House Study Bill 698 HOUSE FILE BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BILL BY CHAIRPERSON OLSON) Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays Approved A BILL FOR 1 An Act providing for separation distance requirements between a 2 confinement feeding operation structure and a designated 3 wetland, and making penalties applicable. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 5944HC 82 6 da/rj/14 PAG LIN 1 1 Section 1. Section 459.102, subsection 21, Code 2007, is 1 2 amended to read as follows: 1 3 21. "Designated wetland" means land designated as a 1 4 protected wetland by the United States department of the 1 5 interior or the department of natural resources, including but 1 6 not limited to a protected wetland as defined in section 1 7 456B.1, if the land is owned and managed by the federal 1 8 government,orthe department of natural resources, a county, 1 9 or a city. However, a designated wetland does not include 1 10 land where an agricultural drainage well has been plugged 1 11 causing a temporary wetland or land within a drainage district 1 12 or levee district. 1 13 EXPLANATION 1 14 This bill amends Code chapter 459, which regulates the 1 15 impact of confinement feeding operations on the environment. 1 16 Code section 459.102 provides that in order to be classified 1 17 as a "designated wetland" two conditions must be met: (1) it 1 18 must be identified as a "protected wetland" by the United 1 19 States department of the interior, and (2) it must be owned 1 20 and managed by the federal government or the department of 1 21 natural resources. The bill amends that Code section to 1 22 provide that a protected wetland may also be owned or managed 1 23 by a county or a city. 1 24 Code section 459.310 establishes a separation distance of 1 25 2,500 feet between a confinement feeding operation structure 1 26 (e.g., a confinement building, manure storage structure, or 1 27 egg washwater storage structure) and a designated wetland. A 1 28 person who violates the separation distance requirement is 1 29 subject to a number of penalties including the administrative 1 30 assessment of a civil penalty of up to $10,000 (Code sections 1 31 459.603 and 455B.109). 1 32 LSB 5944HC 82 1 33 da/rj/14