H*3446 Session 111 (1995-1996)
H*3446(Rat #0533, Act #0460 of 1996) General Bill, By Sharpe
Similar(S 460)
A Bill to amend Title 47, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, relating to
animals, livestock, and poultry, by adding Chapter 20 so as to enact
provisions to regulate confined swine feeding operations, including provisions
for, among other things, fees, punishment for violations of this Chapter, and
the promulgation of regulations; to amend Section 46-45-30, as amended,
relating to nuisance suits related to agricultural operations, so as to
provide that no established agricultural facility or any agricultural
operation at an established agricultural facility is or may become a nuisance,
private or public, by any changed conditions in or about the locality of the
facility or operation, and to delete certain language; to require the
Department of Health and Environmental Control to promulgate regulations
regarding confined swine feeding operations, which additional regulations are
separate and distinct from the regulations promulgated pursuant to Chapter 20,
Title 47; and to provide that when these "separate and distinct" or
"additional" regulations are approved by the General Assembly, or take effect
without action of the General Assembly, various provisions contained in this
Act and certain regulations are repealed.-amended title
02/01/95 House Introduced and read first time HJ-10
02/01/95 House Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Environmental Affairs HJ-10
03/22/95 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental
Affairs HJ-3
03/28/95 House Debate adjourned until Wednesday, March 29, 1995 HJ-35
03/29/95 House Objection by Rep. Scott, Neal, Canty, Rogers,
Howard, Lloyd, Shissias, McMahand & Anderson HJ-23
04/26/95 House Objection withdrawn by Rep. Anderson HJ-116
04/26/95 House Objection by Rep. Elliott, R. Smith, Huff,
Meacham, Harwell, Askins & Wilder HJ-116
05/03/95 House Amended HJ-92
05/03/95 House Read second time HJ-150
05/03/95 House Roll call Yeas-59 Nays-36 HJ-150
05/04/95 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-31
05/05/95 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-5
05/05/95 Senate Referred to Committee on Agriculture and Natural
Resources SJ-5
05/24/95 Senate Recalled from Committee on Agriculture and
Natural Resources SJ-49
01/10/96 Senate Retaining place on calendar recommitted to
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources SJ-44
03/06/96 Senate Committee report: Majority favorable with amend.,
minority unfavorable Agriculture and Natural
Resources SJ-20
05/15/96 Senate Amended SJ-65
05/15/96 Senate Read second time SJ-65
05/15/96 Senate Unanimous consent for second reading on next
legislative day SJ-66
05/16/96 Senate Read third time and returned to House with
amendments SJ-34
05/23/96 House Continued HJ-57
05/23/96 House Roll call Yeas-58 Nays-38 HJ-59
05/23/96 House Motion noted-reconsider the vote whereby continued
05/28/96 House Reconsider vote whereby continued (Vote: Ayes 61
Nays 41) HJ-46
05/28/96 House Debate adjourned on Senate amendments until
Wednesday, May 29, 1996 HJ-50
05/29/96 House Senate amendment amended HJ-101
05/29/96 House Returned to Senate with amendments HJ-101
05/29/96 House Reconsider vote whereby Senate amendment amended
& returned to Senate with amendments HJ-179
05/29/96 House Debate adjourned on Senate amendments until
Thursday, May 30, 1996 HJ-179
05/30/96 House Debate adjourned on amendments HJ-22
05/30/96 House Senate amendment amended HJ-115
05/30/96 House Returned to Senate with amendments HJ-115
05/30/96 Senate Non-concurrence in House amendment SJ-83
06/12/96 House House insists upon amendment and conference
committee appointed Reps. Reps. Meacham, Trotter
& Riser HJ-1
06/12/96 Senate Conference committee appointed Sens. Martin,
Lander, Leventis SJ-12
06/12/96 House Free conference powers granted HJ-49
06/12/96 House Free conference committee appointed Reps.
Meacham, Trotter & Riser HJ-49
06/12/96 House Free conference report received and adopted HJ-51
06/13/96 Senate Free conference powers granted SJ-21
06/13/96 Senate Free conference committee appointed Sens. Lander,
Leventis, Martin SJ-21
06/13/96 Senate Free conference report received and adopted SJ-21
06/13/96 Senate Ordered enrolled for ratification SJ-21
06/26/96 Ratified R 533
07/03/96 Signed By Governor
07/01/96 Effective date 07/01/96
07/16/96 Copies available
07/16/96 Act No. 460
(A460, R533, H3446)
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 47, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH
CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO ANIMALS, LIVESTOCK, AND
POULTRY, BY ADDING CHAPTER 20 SO AS TO ENACT
PROVISIONS TO REGULATE CONFINED SWINE FEEDING
OPERATIONS, INCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR, AMONG OTHER
THINGS, FEES, PUNISHMENT FOR VIOLATIONS OF THIS
CHAPTER, AND THE PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS; TO
AMEND SECTION 46-45-30, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO
NUISANCE SUITS RELATED TO AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS,
SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT NO ESTABLISHED AGRICULTURAL
FACILITY OR ANY AGRICULTURAL OPERATION AT AN
ESTABLISHED AGRICULTURAL FACILITY IS OR MAY BECOME
A NUISANCE, PRIVATE OR PUBLIC, BY ANY CHANGED
CONDITIONS IN OR ABOUT THE LOCALITY OF THE FACILITY
OR OPERATION, AND TO DELETE CERTAIN LANGUAGE; TO
REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL TO PROMULGATE REGULATIONS
REGARDING CONFINED SWINE FEEDING OPERATIONS, WHICH
ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS ARE SEPARATE AND DISTINCT
FROM THE REGULATIONS PROMULGATED PURSUANT TO
CHAPTER 20, TITLE 47; AND TO PROVIDE THAT WHEN THESE
"SEPARATE AND DISTINCT" OR
"ADDITIONAL" REGULATIONS ARE APPROVED BY
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, OR TAKE EFFECT WITHOUT
ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, VARIOUS PROVISIONS
CONTAINED IN THIS ACT AND CERTAIN REGULATIONS ARE
REPEALED.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
Provisions enacted for feeding operations
SECTION 1. Title 47 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"CHAPTER 20
Confined Swine Feeding Operations
Section 47-20-10. As used in this chapter:
(1) `Agricultural facility' means a lot, building, or structure which is
used for the commercial production of swine in an animal feeding
operation.
(2) `Animal' means a domesticated animal belonging to the porcine
species.
(3) `Animal feeding operation' means an agricultural facility where
animals are confined and fed or maintained for a total of forty-five days
or more in a twelve-month period and crops, vegetative, forage growth,
or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season
over any portion of the lot or facility. Structures used for the storage of
animal waste from animals in the operation also are part of the animal
feeding operation. Two or more animal feeding operations under
common ownership or management are considered to be a single animal
feeding operation if they are adjacent or utilize a common system for
animal waste storage.
(4) `Animal waste' means animal excreta or other commonly
associated organic animal wastes including, but not limited to, bedding,
litter, feed losses, or water mixed with the waste.
(5) `Annual pollutant loading rate' means the maximum amount of a
pollutant that can be applied to a unit area of a waste utilization area
during a three hundred sixty-five-day period.
(6) `Cumulative pollutant loading rate' means the maximum amount
of a pollutant that can be applied to an area of land.
(7) `Department' means the South Carolina Department of Health
and Environmental Control.
(8) `Ephemeral stream' means a stream that flows only in direct
response to rainfall or snowmelt in which discrete periods of flow persist
no more than twenty-nine consecutive days per event.
(9) `Intermittent stream' means a stream that generally has a defined
natural water course which does not flow year-round but flows beyond
periods of rainfall or snowmelt.
(10) `Lagoon' means an impoundment used in conjunction with an
animal feeding operation, the primary function of which is to store or
stabilize, or both, organic wastes, wastewater, and contaminated
runoff.
(11) `Vector' means a carrier that is capable of transmitting a
pathogen from one organism to another including, but not limited to, flies
and other insects, rodents, birds, and vermin.
(12) `Waste storage pond' means a structure used for impounding or
storing manure, wastewater, and contaminated runoff as a component of
an agricultural waste management system. Waste is stored for a specified
period of time, one year or less, and then the pond is emptied.
(13) `Waste utilization area' means land on which animal waste is
spread as a fertilizer.
(14) `Watershed' means a drainage area contributing to a river, lake,
or stream.
(15) `Waters of the State' means lakes, bays, sounds, ponds,
impounding reservoirs, springs, artesian wells, rivers, perennial and
navigable streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic
Ocean within the territorial limits of the State, and all other bodies of
water, natural or artificial, public or private, inland or coastal, fresh or
salt, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the State or within
its jurisdiction. This definition does not include ephemeral or
intermittent streams. This definition includes wetlands as defined in this
section.
(16) `Wetlands' means lands that have a predominance of hydric soil,
are inundated or saturated by water or groundwater at a frequency and
duration sufficient to support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, and, under normal
circumstances, do support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation.
Normal circumstances refer to the soil and hydrologic conditions that are
normally present without regard to whether the vegetation has been
removed. Wetlands must be identified through the confirmation of the
three wetlands criteria: hydric soil, hydrology, and hydrophytic
vegetation. All three criteria must be met for an area to be identified as
wetlands.
Section 47-20-20. (A) All siting requirements for animal feeding
operations must be measured from property lines.
(B) After June 30, 1996, these setback limits for new or expanded
animal feeding operations which utilize a lagoon or a waste storage pond,
or both, apply:
(1) For an animal feeding operation with a capacity of 420,000 to
840,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one time,
the minimum separation distance required between a lagoon and a waste
storage pond and real property owned by another person is 1,000 feet.
The minimum separation distance required between an agricultural
facility and real property owned by another person is 1000 feet.
(2) For an animal feeding operation with a capacity of 840,001 to
1,260,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one
time, the minimum separation distance required between a lagoon and a
waste storage pond and real property owned by another person is 1,250
feet. The minimum separation distance required between an agricultural
facility and real property owned by another person is 1000 feet.
(3) For an animal feeding operation with a capacity of 1,260,001
to 1,680,000 pounds of normal production live weight at any one time,
the minimum separation distance required between a lagoon and a waste
storage pond and real property owned by another person is 1,500 feet.
The minimum separation distance required between an agricultural
facility and real property owned by another person is 1000 feet.
(4) For animal feeding operations with a capacity of more than
1,680,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one
time, the minimum separation distance required between a lagoon and a
waste storage pond and real property owned by another person is 1,750
feet. The minimum separation distance between an agricultural facility
and real property owned by another person is 1000 feet.
(5) The minimum separation distance between a lagoon and a
waste storage pond and a public or private drinking water well is 500
feet.
(6) The minimum separation distance required between a lagoon
and a waste storage pond and waters of the State is 1,320 feet (1/4 mile).
If the waters of the State are designated Outstanding Resource Waters,
Critical Habitat Waters of federally endangered species, or Shellfish
Harvesting Waters, the minimum separation distance required between a
lagoon and a waste storage pond and waters of the State is 2,640 feet
(1/2 mile). A minimum 100-foot vegetative buffer of plants and trees is
required. However, if an owner or operator of an animal feeding
operation has a Natural Resource Conservation Service employee or a
state-certified engineer create a waste management plan design to control
the discharge from a failed lagoon so that it will not enter waters of the
State and certify that the plan has been implemented as specified, then
the minimum separation distance between a lagoon and a waste storage
pond and waters of the State is 500 feet.
(7) The minimum separation distance between a lagoon and a
waste storage pond constructed of concrete to standards outlined in
department regulations and waters of the State is 500 feet. If the waters
are designated Outstanding Resource Waters, Critical Habitat Waters of
federally endangered species, or Shellfish Harvesting Waters, the
minimum separation distance required between a lagoon and a waste
storage pond constructed of concrete to standards outlined in department
regulations and waters of the State is 1,000 feet. A minimum 100-foot
vegetative buffer of plants and trees is required.
(8) If a lagoon or waste storage pond, or both, breaches or fails in
any way, the owner or operator of the animal feeding operation
immediately must notify the department and the appropriate local
government officials.
(C) The minimum separation distance in feet required between a
ditch or swale which drains directly into waters of the State and all
animal feeding operations is 100 feet.
(D) No new animal feeding operation or expansion of an established
animal feeding operation may be located in the 100-year floodplain
unless protected from flooding as provided for in regulations of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Flood
Insurance Program on Floodplain Management. Such construction or
expansion must be certified by the department.
(E) Streams or rivers used as surface intake for potable water supply
may not be used as a receiving stream outflow from animal feeding
operations, and there may not be any direct water linkage or flood
facility drainage linkage between the animal feeding operation and a
stream or river utilized as a supply of drinking water unless waste is
treated to drinking water quality standards.
(F) The setback limits are minimum siting requirements. The
department shall promulgate regulations specifying factors that the
department shall evaluate in determining whether additional separation
distances are required under certain circumstances. These factors include,
at a minimum:
(1) proximity to 100-year flood plain;
(2) soil type;
(3) location in watershed;
(4) nutrient sensitivity of receiving waters;
(5) proximity to a State Designated Focus Area; Outstanding
Resource Water; Heritage Corridor; Historic Preservation District; state or
national park or forest; state or federal research area; and privately-owned
wildlife refuge, park, or trust property;
(6) proximity to other point and nonpoint sources; and
(7) slope of the land.
Section 47-20-30. A separation distance requirement as provided in
Section 47-20-20(1)-(4) does not apply to an animal feeding operation
which is constructed or expanded, if the titleholder of adjoining land to
the animal feeding operation executes a written waiver with the title
holder of the land where the animal feeding operation is established or
proposed to be located, under terms and conditions that the parties
negotiate. The written waiver becomes effective only upon the recording
of the waiver in the office of the Register of Mesne Conveyances of the
county in which the benefitted land is located. The filed waiver
precludes enforcement by the State of Section 47-20-20(B)(1)-(4) as it
relates to the animal feeding operation and to real property owned by
another person.
Section 47-20-40. (A) The department shall promulgate regulations
relating to land application rates for animal waste for animal feeding
operations of a capacity for more than 420,000 pounds of normal
production animal live weight at any one time. These rates must be
based on the waste's impact on the environment, animals, and people
living in the environment. In developing annual pollutant loading rates
and cumulative pollutant loading rates, the department shall consider:
(1) soil type;
(2) type of vegetation growing in land-applied area;
(3) proximity to 100-year flood plain;
(4) location in watershed;
(5) nutrient sensitivity of receiving land and waters;
(6) soil and sediment tests of receiving land and waters;
(7) nutrient, heavy metal, and pollutant content of the waste being
applied;
(8) proximity to a State Designated Focus Area; Outstanding
Resource Water; Heritage Corridor; Historic Preservation District; state or
national park or forest; state or federal research area; and privately-owned
wildlife refuge, park, or trust property;
(9) proximity to other point and nonpoint sources;
(10) slope of land;
(11) distance to water table or ground-water aquifer;
(12) timing of waste application to coincide with vegetative cover
growth cycle;
(13) timing of harvest of vegetative cover;
(14) hydraulic loading limitations; and
(15) soil assimilative capacity;
(16) type of vegetative cover and its nutrient uptake ability;
(17) method of land application.
(B) The department shall require calibration of spray irrigation
equipment.
(C) Waste must not be applied to or discharged onto land surface
when the vertical separation between the waste and the water table is less
than 1 1/2 feet.
(D) The department shall ensure that owners or operators adhere to
land application rates.
Section 47-20-50. The following application rates shall only apply to
animal feeding operations with a capacity of more than 420,000 pounds
of normal production animal live weight at any one time.
(A) The minimum separation distance in feet required between a
waste utilization area and real property owned by another person on
which a residence is located is 200 feet from property lines that are
within 1,000 feet of the residence. The 200-foot setback is waived with
the consent of the owner of the residence; however, the owner may not
agree to less than 100 feet from the residence.
(B) The minimum separation distance in feet required between a
waste utilization area and waters of the State, ditches, and swales that
drain directly into waters of the State is 100 feet.
(C) The minimum separation distance in feet required between a
waste utilization area and a public and private drinking water well is 200
feet.
Section 47-20-60. (A) The department shall promulgate regulations
governing maximum lagoon size and minimum lagoon size, based on the
permitted number of animal units to be maintained at the animal feeding
operation. However, no single lagoon may exceed four acres.
(B) Lagoons and waste storage ponds for animal feeding operations
with a capacity for more than 420,000 pounds of normal production
animal live weight at any one time must be lined with a combination of
natural and synthetic material which results in a permeability rating equal
to or more protective than that required for human waste lagoons.
(C) The owner or operator of an animal feeding operation shall
obtain certification from a licensed engineer or an appropriate Natural
Resource Conservation Service employee that the operation's lagoon and
waste storage pond were designed, constructed, and installed in
accordance with regulatory specifications.
(D) Before the construction of a lagoon and a waste storage pond,
the owner or operator shall remove all under-drains that exist from
previous agricultural operations.
(E) Waste must not be placed directly in or allowed to come into
contact with groundwater. Additionally, the minimum separation
distance between the lowest point of the lagoon and a waste storage pond
and the highest point of the water table beneath the lagoon is 2 feet,
unless adequate provisions have been taken and meet the standards
established in regulations promulgated by the department.
(F) The department shall conduct a study of alternative technologies
for the treatment of animal waste from animal feeding operations and
promulgate regulations governing the use of these alternative treatment
technologies. Every five years the department shall review changing
technologies relating to the treatment of animal waste and promulgate
appropriate regulations as needed. The department shall determine which
animal feeding operations are required to use aerobic lagoons or other
treatment technology.
(G) The department shall consider the cumulative impacts including,
but not limited to, impacts from evaporation, storm water, and other
potential and actual point and nonpoint sources of pollution runoff, levels
of nutrients or other elements in the soils and nearby waterways,
ground-water or aquifer contamination, pathogens or other elements, and
the pollution assimilative capacity of the receiving water body before
permitting new or expanded animal feeding operations. The department
may require alternative waste treatment in watersheds which are
nutrient-sensitive.
(H) Disposal of animal carcasses or body parts into waste lagoons is
prohibited.
Section 47-20-70. (A) No person may cause, allow, or permit
emission into the ambient air of any substance or combination of
substances in quantities that an undesirable level of odor is determined to
result unless preventive measures of the type set out below are taken to
abate or control the emission to the satisfaction of the department. When
an odor problem comes to the attention of the department through field
surveillance or specific complaints, the department shall determine if the
odor is at an undesirable level by considering the character and degree of
injury or interference to:
(1) the health or welfare of the people;
(2) plant, animal, or marine life;
(3) property;
(4) enjoyment of life or use of affected property.
(B) The department may require these abatement or control
practices:
(1) removal or disposal of odorous materials;
(2) methods in handling and storage of odorous materials that
minimize emissions;
(3) prescribed standards in the maintenance of premises to reduce
odorous emissions;
(4) best available control technology to reduce odorous
emissions.
(C) After determining an undesirable level of odor exists, the
department shall require remediation of the undesirable level of odor.
(D) Nothing in this section prohibits an individual or group of
persons from bringing a complaint against an animal feeding
operation.
Section 47-20-80. (A) The department, in consultation with the
State Veterinarian, shall promulgate regulations relating to the control of
vectors.
(B) All animal feeding operations shall utilize Best Management
Practices as appropriate for the control of vectors and department
regulations in order to maximize vector control.
Section 47-20-90. (A) The department shall act on all permits to
prevent, so far as reasonably possible considering relevant standards
under state and federal laws, an increase in pollution of the waters and
air of the State from any new or enlarged sources.
(B) The department also shall act on all permits so as to prevent
degradation of water quality due to the cumulative and secondary effects
of permit decisions. Cumulative and secondary effects are impacts
attributable to the collective effects of a number of animal feeding
operations in a defined area and include the effects of additional projects
similar to the requested permit in areas available for development in the
vicinity. All permit decisions shall ensure that the waste treatment and
utilization alternative with the least adverse impact on the environment be
utilized. Cumulative and secondary effects shall include, but are not
limited to, runoff from land application of animal waste and an animal
feeding operation, evaporation and atmospheric deposition of elements,
ground-water or aquifer contamination, buildup of elements in the soil,
and other potential and actual point and nonpoint sources of pollution in
the vicinity.
Section 47-20-100. The department shall establish the amount of an
application and annual operation fee in accordance with the
Environmental Protection Fund Act, Section 48-2-10 of the 1976 Code,
to cover, at a minimum, an annual inspection of all animal feeding
operations in the State with a capacity for more than 420,000 pounds of
normal production animal live weight at any one time. The annual
inspection must include, but is not limited to, an on-site visit, review of
the implementation of a waste management plan, review of results of
monitoring analysis, annual pollutant loading rates, cumulative pollutant
loading rates, and review of all records required by this chapter.
Section 47-20-110. (A) All animal feeding operations established
after the effective date of this chapter which require the use of a lagoon
and a waste storage pond and which have a capacity for more than
420,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one time
are required to install at least one up-gradient and two down-gradient
monitoring wells at a depth which the department considers appropriate
around the lagoon in order to monitor seepage of waste from the
lagoon.
(B) Each monitoring well installed must be analyzed at least once
annually. However, the department may conduct routine and random
visits to the animal feeding operation to sample the monitoring wells.
(C) Records must be kept by the owner or operator of the animal
feeding operation according to regulations promulgated by the
department.
(D) If leakage is discovered beyond an acceptable level as
determined by the department, the lagoon must be repaired at the owner
or operator's expense.
Section 47-20-120. (A) No waste may be released from the premises
of an animal feeding operation to waters of the State unless the waste is
treated to drinking water quality standards.
(B) Water that is completely surrounded by land owned by the
applicant and has no connection to other water is excluded from the
setback requirements outlined in this chapter.
Section 47-20-130. (A) Clemson University, in conjunction with the
South Carolina Department of Agriculture and the department, shall
create a training and certification program for owners or operators of
animal feeding operations which shall include, but is not limited to,
understanding relevant regulations, issues, standards, principles, and
practices regarding siting and management of an animal feeding operation
and land application of animal waste; testing for toxic metals, organic
materials, and other elements; use of antibiotics; implementing
emergency procedures; and spill prevention protocols including testing
and inspection of dikes.
(B) An operator of an animal feeding operation and waste utilization
area must be certified on the operation of animal waste management
under the program created in subsection (A).
Section 47-20-140. (A) For an animal feeding operation which has
the capacity of more than 420,000 pounds of normal production animal
live weight at any one time and is seeking to construct or expand an
established animal feeding operation, the department shall publish a
notice of intent to construct or to expand an established animal feeding
operation governed by this chapter in a local newspaper of general
circulation, notify persons residing on adjoining property, and notify the
relevant county commission and water supply district at the expense of
the animal feeding operation applicant. Proof of notification of
neighboring land owners and residents must be supplied by the applicant.
This notice shall contain instructions for public review and comment to
the department on the proposed construction and operation of the facility.
The notice shall allow for a minimum thirty-day comment period.
(B) The department shall conduct a public hearing and shall provide
notice of the public hearing in accordance with the notice requirements
provided for in subsection (A) in any case in which the department
receives at least twenty letters requesting a public hearing.
Section 47-20-150. (A) Permits for animal feeding operations
covered under this chapter must be renewed every seven years.
However, subsequent to the issuance of a permit, if the animal feeding
operation is not in operation or production for two consecutive years, the
permit is not valid and a new permit must be obtained.
(B) The department shall determine the appropriate fee for permit
renewals.
Section 47-20-160. (A) The department shall promulgate regulations
for this chapter by January 1, 1998, and submit a report on its progress
by January 1, 1997.
(B) The department shall promulgate regulations for siting and
managing animal feeding operations with a capacity of 420,000 pounds
of normal production of animal live weight or less at any one time,
including land application of waste. The regulations must be at a
minimum as protective as the department's current guidelines.
Section 47-20-170. Any violation of the provisions of this chapter is
punishable as under the Pollution Control Act."
Established agricultural facility; etc.
SECTION 2. Section 46-45-30 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act
442 of 1990, is further amended to read:
"Section 46-45-30. No established agricultural facility or any
agricultural operation at an established agricultural facility is or may
become a nuisance, private or public, by any changed conditions in or
about the locality of the facility or operation. This section does not
apply whenever a nuisance results from the negligent, improper, or illegal
operation of an agricultural facility or operation."
Regulations, separate and distinct; etc.
SECTION 3. (A) In addition to any regulations authorized to be
promulgated by Section 1 of this act, the Department of Health and
Environmental Control shall promulgate regulations regarding confined
swine feeding operations which are separate and distinct from the
regulations promulgated pursuant to Section 1.
(B) The separate and distinct regulations shall not be proposed until
after the regulations required to be promulgated pursuant to Section 1
take effect.
(C) The provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of this act are severable and
enforceable irrespective of whether a particular regulation has been
promulgated.
(D)(1) The separate and distinct regulations shall include, but are not
limited to, including the following:
(a) definitions;
(b) setback requirements;
(c) land application rates for animal waste and waste storage
ponds;
(d) lagoon construction and maintenance requirements;
(e) odor control;
(f) vector control;
(g) application and annual operation fees;
(h) monitoring wells;
(i) certification of owners or operators of confined animal feeding
operations and waste management systems;
(j) public notice requirements; and
(k) permit renewals.
(2) In addition, the separate and distinct regulations shall be based
upon an evaluation of the impact upon the interests of the environment
and agribusiness.
(3) In promulgating the separate and distinct regulations, the
department shall use the limits, distances, and other requirements
provided in Section 1 of this act as the basis for the regulations. When
the department submits the proposed regulations to the General Assembly
for approval, in addition to the information which must be filed pursuant
to Section 1-23-120 of the 1976 Code, the department shall include an
explanation for each change proposed in the separate and distinct
regulations from the requirements of Sections 1 and 2 of this act.
(E) When the regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to
this section are approved by the General Assembly or take effect without
action of the General Assembly, the provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of
this act, and any regulations promulgated pursuant to authority granted in
Section 1 of this act, are thereby repealed and shall no longer have the
force and effect of law.
Time effective
SECTION 4. This act takes effect July 1, 1996.
Approved the 3rd day of July, 1996. |