HF 346 (LSB 2017YH (3) 87)

HOUSE FILE 346

BY  SEXTON

A BILL FOR

An Act requiring the department of natural resources to include additional water quality criteria in the master matrix used to evaluate applications for permits to construct confinement feeding operation structures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES —— MASTER MATRIX —— ADDITIONAL WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.  The department of natural resources shall revise the master matrix as published in 567 IAC ch. 65, Appendix C to include additional criteria in the water subcategory. The additional criteria shall include environmental practices used to reduce soil erosion and sediment loss, manage nutrients and reduce contributing contaminant loads to receiving surface waters, and improve surface water quality. The new criteria shall include edge-of-field soil and water conservation practices or edge-of-field erosion control practices, and may include bioreactors connected to field drainage tile lines, saturated buffers, prairie grass strips located in drainage areas, grassed waterways, areas devoted to permanent vegetation cover, or wetlands.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   BILL’S PROVISIONS. This bill requires the department of natural resources to revise the master matrix used to evaluate proposed confinement feeding operation structure sites by including additional criteria in the water subcategory in order to account for environmental practices used to reduce soil erosion and sediment loss, manage nutrients and reduce contributing contaminant loads to receiving surface waters, and improve surface water quality.
   BACKGROUND —— GENERAL. The bill refers to provisions in the Iowa administrative code that include the master matrix as required in Code section 459.305 of the “Animal Agriculture Compliance Act”. A person constructing a confinement feeding operation structure may first be required to obtain a permit issued by the department (Code section 459.303). A confinement feeding operation is a location in which agricultural animals are confined and fed in totally roofed structures for 45 days or more in any 12-month period and includes associated confinement feeding operation structures such as buildings, manure storage structures, and egg washwater storage structures (Code section 459.102). A permit is required if a confinement feeding operation would have an animal unit capacity of at least 1,000 animal units, which would equal 2,500 swine weighing over 55 pounds (Code section 459.102), or if the operation uses an unformed manure storage structure (Code section 459.303).
   BACKGROUND —— MASTER MATRIX. The master matrix is a form used as part of a process in which a person applying for a construction permit is awarded points for agreeing to construct the confinement feeding operation structure or use manure management practices in a manner that exceeds specific state law requirements (e.g., a statutory separation distance imposed between the application of manure and a river or stream as specified in Code section 459.314). The master matrix is comprised of three subcategories including impacts of the confinement feeding operation on air, water, and the community. A county board of supervisors that adopts a construction evaluation resolution may evaluate the completed application and matrix before submitting comments to the department (Code section 459.304), which decides whether to approve or disapprove the application and issue the permit (Code section 459.303).