Read the full stored bill text
5875S.02C
1
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 1427
AN ACT
To repeal sections 644.051 and 644.059, RSMo, and to
enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to
the regulation of water contaminants, with penalty
provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 644.051 and 644.059, RSMo, are
repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be
known as sections 644.051 and 644.059, to read as follows:
644.051. 1. It is unlawful for any person:
(1) To cause pollution of any waters of the state or
to place or cause or permit to be placed any water
contaminant in a location where it is reasonably certain to
cause pollution of any waters of the state;
(2) To discharge any water contaminants into any
waters of the state which reduce the quality of such waters
below the water quality standards established by the
commission;
(3) To violate any pretreatment and toxic material
control regulations, or to discharge any water contaminants
into any waters of the state which exceed effluent
regulations or permit provisions as established by the
commission or required by any federal water pollution
control act;
(4) To discharge any radiological, chemical, or
biological warfare agent or high-level radioactive waste
into the waters of the state.
2. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate, use
or maintain any water contaminant or point source in this
2
state that is subject to standards, rules or regulations
promulgated pursuant to the provisions of sections 644.006
to 644.141 unless such person holds an operating permit from
the commission, subject to such exceptions as the commission
may prescribe by rule or regulation or as exempted in
section 644.059. However, no operating permit shall be
required of any person for any emission into publicly owned
treatment facilities or into publicly owned sewer systems
tributary to publicly owned treatment works.
3. It shall be unlawful for any person to construct,
build, replace or make major modification to any point
source or collection system that is principally designed to
convey or discharge human sewage to waters of the state,
unless such person obtains a construction permit from the
commission, except as provided in this section. The
following activities shall be excluded from construction
permit requirements:
(1) Facilities greater than one million gallons per
day that are authorized through a local supervised program,
and are not receiving any department financial assistance;
(2) All sewer extensions or collection projects that
are one thousand feet in length or less with fewer than two
lift stations;
(3) All sewer collection projects that are authorized
through a local supervised program; and
(4) Any other exclusions the commission may promulgate
by rule.
4. A construction permit may be required by the
department in the following circumstances:
(1) Substantial deviation from the commission's design
standards;
(2) To address noncompliance;
3
(3) When an unauthorized discharge has occurred or has
the potential to occur; or
(4) To correct a violation of water quality standards.
5. Any point source that proposes to construct an
earthen storage structure to hold, convey, contain, store or
treat domestic, agricultural, or industrial process
wastewater also shall be subject to the construction permit
provisions of subsections 3 to 5 of this section. However,
any earthen basin constructed to retain and settle nontoxic,
nonmetallic earthen materials such as soil, silt, and rock
shall be exempt from the construction permit provisions of
subsections 3 to 5 of this section. All other construction-
related activities at point sources not subject to
subsections 3 to 5 of this section shall be exempt from the
construction permit requirements. All activities that are
exempted from the construction permit requirement are
subject to the following conditions:
(1) Any point source system designed to hold, convey,
contain, store or treat domestic, agricultural or industrial
process wastewater shall be designed by a professional
engineer registered in Missouri in accordance with the
commission's design rules;
(2) Such point source system shall be constructed in
accordance with the registered professional engineer's
design and plans; and
(3) Such point source system may receive a post-
construction site inspection by the department prior to
receiving operating permit approval. A site inspection may
be performed by the department, upon receipt of a complete
operating permit application or submission of an engineer's
statement of work complete.
6. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to
the contrary, the commission may exempt an entity from the
4
requirement to obtain a permit under this section based on
licensure under the Missouri fertilizer law, sections
266.291 to 266.351, only if the entity is producing products
that are commercially sold to an end user in accordance with
such sections and has accurate labeling for each container
that includes the information required under subsection 1 of
section 266.321.
7. Entities currently storing combined bulk
fertilizers in storage basins shall not be exempt from any
design requirements for agrichemical facilities established
by rule when constructing new agrichemical facilities.
8. (1) In order to receive an operating permit under
this section, any point source or operating location seeking
an operating permit for a commingled offsite industrial
wastewater or wastewater residuals open storage basin or
open storage vessel shall meet current design requirements
for a wastewater treatment facility's design capacity.
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this
subsection, the department shall require at least, but not
more than, the following buffer distances between the
nearest commingled offsite industrial wastewater or
wastewater residuals open storage basin or open storage
vessel and any public building or occupied residence other
than a public building or occupied residence that is
operated by the commingled offsite industrial wastewater or
wastewater residuals open storage basin or open storage
vessel or a residence from which a written agreement for
operation is obtained:
(a) For a facility with a capacity of more than five
hundred thousand gallons but less than or equal to five
million gallons, one thousand feet;
5
(b) For a facility with a capacity of more than five
million gallons but less than or equal to ten million
gallons, two thousand feet; and
(c) For a facility with a capacity of more than ten
million gallons, three thousand five hundred feet.
(3) All commingled offsite industrial wastewater or
wastewater residuals open storage basins or open storage
vessels holding valid operating permits as of July 9, 2024,
shall be exempt from the buffer distances prescribed in
subdivision (2) of this subsection. Such distances shall
not apply to a facility that has received a written
agreement signed by all affected property owners within the
relevant buffer distance.
(4) The department shall require groundwater
monitoring on a site-specific basis when, in the
determination of the division of geological survey, the
commingled offsite industrial wastewater and wastewater
residuals open storage basin or open storage vessel is
located in proximity to a geological feature that increases
the likelihood of groundwater contamination.
(5) (a) The department shall establish by rule
sampling requirements for commingled offsite industrial
wastewater and wastewater residuals open storage basins or
open storage vessels based on permitted materials.
(b) The department shall, within sixty days of July 9,
2024, begin the process of promulgating rules, which shall
include creating a chain of custody record form to be used
by all parties during the handling of testing samples, and,
at a minimum, establish criteria to require annual sampling
and testing of any contents of any commingled offsite
industrial wastewater or wastewater residuals open storage
basin or open storage vessel for:
6
a. The total concentrations of metals, including
arsenic, aluminum, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead,
mercury, selenium, silver, and thallium; and
b. E. coli and fecal coliform.
(c) Testing under paragraph (b) of this subdivision
shall be done by a third-party certified laboratory and
results of the testing shall be sent to the department by
the third-party certified laboratory annually.
9. A governmental unit may apply to the department for
authorization to operate a local supervised program, and the
department may authorize such a program. A local supervised
program would recognize the governmental unit's engineering
capacity and ability to conduct engineering work, supervise
construction and maintain compliance with relevant operating
permit requirements.
10. Before issuing any permit required by this
section, the director shall issue such notices, conduct such
hearings, and consider such factors, comments and
recommendations as required by sections 644.006 to 644.141
or any federal water pollution control act. The director
shall determine if any state or any provisions of any
federal water pollution control act the state is required to
enforce, any state or federal effluent limitations or
regulations, water quality-related effluent limitations,
national standards of performance, toxic and pretreatment
standards, or water quality standards which apply to the
source, or any such standards in the vicinity of the source,
are being exceeded, and shall determine the impact on such
water quality standards from the source. The director, in
order to effectuate the purposes of sections 644.006 to
644.141, shall deny a permit if the source will violate any
such acts, regulations, limitations or standards or will
appreciably affect the water quality standards or the water
7
quality standards are being substantially exceeded, unless
the permit is issued with such conditions as to make the
source comply with such requirements within an acceptable
time schedule.
11. The director shall grant or deny the permit within
sixty days after all requirements of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act concerning issuance of permits have
been satisfied unless the application does not require any
permit pursuant to any federal water pollution control act.
The director or the commission may require the applicant to
provide and maintain such facilities or to conduct such
tests and monitor effluents as necessary to determine the
nature, extent, quantity or degree of water contaminant
discharged or released from the source, establish and
maintain records and make reports regarding such
determination.
12. The director shall promptly notify the applicant
in writing of his or her action and if the permit is denied
state the reasons for such denial. As provided by sections
621.250 and 640.013, the applicant may appeal to the
administrative hearing commission from the denial of a
permit or from any condition in any permit by filing a
petition with the administrative hearing commission within
thirty days of the notice of denial or issuance of the
permit. After a final action is taken on a new or reissued
general permit, a potential applicant for the general permit
who can demonstrate that he or she is or may be adversely
affected by any permit term or condition may appeal the
terms and conditions of the general permit within thirty
days of the department's issuance of the general permit. In
no event shall a permit constitute permission to violate the
law or any standard, rule or regulation promulgated pursuant
thereto. Once the administrative hearing commission has
8
reviewed the appeal, the administrative hearing commission
shall issue a recommended decision to the commission on
permit issuance, denial, or any condition of the permit.
The commission shall issue its own decision, based on the
appeal, for permit issuance, denial, or any condition of the
permit. If the commission changes a finding of fact or
conclusion of law made by the administrative hearing
commission, or modifies or vacates the decision recommended
by the administrative hearing commission, it shall issue its
own decision, which shall include findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The commission shall mail copies of its
final decision to the parties to the appeal or their counsel
of record. The commission's decision shall be subject to
judicial review pursuant to chapter 536, except that the
court of appeals district with territorial jurisdiction
coextensive with the county where the point source is to be
located shall have original jurisdiction. No judicial
review shall be available until and unless all
administrative remedies are exhausted.
13. In any hearing held pursuant to this section that
involves a permit, license, or registration, the burden of
proof is on the party specified in section 640.012. Any
decision of the commission made pursuant to a hearing held
pursuant to this section is subject to judicial review as
provided in section 644.071.
14. In any event, no permit issued pursuant to this
section shall be issued if properly objected to by the
federal government or any agency authorized to object
pursuant to any federal water pollution control act unless
the application does not require any permit pursuant to any
federal water pollution control act.
15. Permits may be modified, reissued, or terminated
at the request of the permittee. All requests shall be in
9
writing and shall contain facts or reasons supporting the
request.
16. No manufacturing or processing plant or operating
location shall be required to pay more than one operating
fee. Operating permits shall be issued for a period not to
exceed five years after date of issuance, except that
general permits shall be issued for a five-year period, and
also except that neither a construction nor an annual permit
shall be required for a single residence's waste treatment
facilities. Applications for renewal of a site-specific
operating permit shall be filed at least one hundred eighty
days prior to the expiration of the existing permit.
Applications seeking to renew coverage under a general
permit shall be submitted at least thirty days prior to the
expiration of the general permit, unless the permittee has
been notified by the director that an earlier application
must be made. General permits may be applied for and issued
electronically once made available by the director.
17. Every permit issued to municipal or any publicly
owned treatment works or facility shall require the
permittee to provide the clean water commission with
adequate notice of any substantial new introductions of
water contaminants or pollutants into such works or facility
from any source for which such notice is required by
sections 644.006 to 644.141 or any federal water pollution
control act. Such permit shall also require the permittee
to notify the clean water commission of any substantial
change in volume or character of water contaminants or
pollutants being introduced into its treatment works or
facility by a source which was introducing water
contaminants or pollutants into its works at the time of
issuance of the permit. Notice must describe the quality
and quantity of effluent being introduced or to be
10
introduced into such works or facility by a source which was
introducing water contaminants or pollutants into its works
at the time of issuance of the permit. Notice must describe
the quality and quantity of effluent being introduced or to
be introduced into such works or facility and the
anticipated impact of such introduction on the quality or
quantity of effluent to be released from such works or
facility into waters of the state.
18. The director or the commission may require the
filing or posting of a bond as a condition for the issuance
of permits for construction of temporary or future water
treatment facilities or facilities that utilize innovative
technology for wastewater treatment in an amount determined
by the commission to be sufficient to ensure compliance with
all provisions of sections 644.006 to 644.141, and any rules
or regulations of the commission and any condition as to
such construction in the permit. For the purposes of this
section, "innovative technology for wastewater treatment"
shall mean a completely new and generally unproven
technology in the type or method of its application that
bench testing or theory suggest has environmental,
efficiency, and cost benefits beyond the standard
technologies. No bond shall be required for designs
approved by any federal agency or environmental regulatory
agency of another state. The bond shall be signed by the
applicant as principal, and by a corporate surety licensed
to do business in the state of Missouri and approved by the
commission. The bond shall remain in effect until the terms
and conditions of the permit are met and the provisions of
sections 644.006 to 644.141 and rules and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto are complied with.
19. (1) The department shall issue or deny
applications for construction and site-specific operating
11
permits received after January 1, 2001, within one hundred
eighty days of the department's receipt of an application.
For general construction and operating permit applications
received after January 1, 2001, that do not require a public
participation process, the department shall issue or deny
the permits within sixty days of the department's receipt of
an application. For an application seeking coverage under a
renewed general permit that does not require an individual
public participation process, the director shall issue or
deny the permit within sixty days of the director's receipt
of the application, or upon issuance of the general permit,
whichever is later. In regard to an application seeking
coverage under an initial general permit that does not
require an individual public participation process, the
director shall issue or deny the permit within sixty days of
the department's receipt of the application. For an
application seeking coverage under a renewed general permit
that requires an individual public participation process,
the director shall issue or deny the permit within ninety
days of the director's receipt of the application, or upon
issuance of the general permit, whichever is later. In
regard to an application for an initial general permit that
requires an individual public participation process, the
director shall issue or deny the permit within ninety days
of the director's receipt of the application.
(2) If the department fails to issue or deny with good
cause a construction or operating permit application within
the time frames established in subdivision (1) of this
subsection, the department shall refund the full amount of
the initial application fee within forty-five days of
failure to meet the established time frame. If the
department fails to refund the application fee within forty-
12
five days, the refund amount shall accrue interest at a rate
established pursuant to section 32.065.
(3) Permit fee disputes may be appealed to the
commission within thirty days of the date established in
subdivision (2) of this subsection. If the applicant
prevails in a permit fee dispute appealed to the commission,
the commission may order the director to refund the
applicant's permit fee plus interest and reasonable
attorney's fees as provided in sections 536.085 and
536.087. A refund of the initial application or annual fee
does not waive the applicant's responsibility to pay any
annual fees due each year following issuance of a permit.
(4) No later than December 31, 2001, the commission
shall promulgate regulations defining shorter review time
periods than the time frames established in subdivision (1)
of this subsection, when appropriate, for different classes
of construction and operating permits. In no case shall
commission regulations adopt permit review times that exceed
the time frames established in subdivision (1) of this
subsection. The department's failure to comply with the
commission's permit review time periods shall result in a
refund of said permit fees as set forth in subdivision (2)
of this subsection. On a semiannual basis, the department
shall submit to the commission a report which describes the
different classes of permits and reports on the number of
days it took the department to issue each permit from the
date of receipt of the application and show averages for
each different class of permits.
(5) During the department's technical review of the
application, the department may request the applicant submit
supplemental or additional information necessary for
adequate permit review. The department's technical review
letter shall contain a sufficient description of the type of
13
additional information needed to comply with the application
requirements.
(6) Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted to
mean that inaction on a permit application shall be grounds
to violate any provisions of sections 644.006 to 644.141 or
any rules promulgated pursuant to sections 644.006 to
644.141.
20. The department shall respond to all requests for
individual certification under Section 401 of the Federal
Clean Water Act within the lesser of sixty days or the
allowed response period established pursuant to applicable
federal regulations without request for an extension period
unless such extension is determined by the commission to be
necessary to evaluate significant impacts on water quality
standards and the commission establishes a timetable for
completion of such evaluation in a period of no more than
one hundred eighty days.
21. All permit fees generated pursuant to this chapter
shall not be used for the development or expansion of total
maximum daily loads studies on either the Missouri or
Mississippi rivers.
22. The department shall implement permit shield
provisions equivalent to the permit shield provisions
implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
pursuant to the Clean Water Act, Section 402(k), 33 U.S.C.
Section 1342(k), and its implementing regulations, for
permits issued pursuant to this chapter.
23. Prior to the development of a new general permit
or reissuance of a general permit for aquaculture, land
disturbance requiring a storm water permit, or reissuance of
a general permit under which fifty or more permits were
issued under a general permit during the immediately
preceding five-year period for a designated category of
14
water contaminant sources, the director shall implement a
public participation process complying with the following
minimum requirements:
(1) For a new general permit or reissuance of a
general permit, a general permit template shall be developed
for which comments shall be sought from permittees and other
interested persons prior to issuance of the general permit;
(2) The director shall publish notice of his intent to
issue a new general permit or reissue a general permit by
posting notice on the department's website at least one
hundred eighty days before the proposed effective date of
the general permit;
(3) The director shall hold a public informational
meeting to provide information on anticipated permit
conditions and requirements and to receive informal comments
from permittees and other interested persons. The director
shall include notice of the public informational meeting
with the notice of intent to issue a new general permit or
reissue a general permit under subdivision (2) of this
subsection. The notice of the public informational meeting,
including the date, time and location, shall be posted on
the department's website at least thirty days in advance of
the public meeting. If the meeting is being held for
reissuance of a general permit, notice shall also be made by
electronic mail to all permittees holding the current
general permit which is expiring. Notice to current
permittees shall be made at least twenty days prior to the
public meeting;
(4) The director shall hold a thirty-day public
comment period to receive comments on the general permit
template with the thirty-day comment period expiring at
least sixty days prior to the effective date of the general
permit. Scanned copies of the comments received during the
15
public comment period shall be posted on the department's
website within five business days after close of the public
comment period;
(5) A revised draft of a general permit template and
the director's response to comments submitted during the
public comment period shall be posted on the department's
website at least forty-five days prior to issuance of the
general permit. At least forty-five days prior to issuance
of the general permit the department shall notify all
persons who submitted comments to the department that these
documents have been posted to the department's website;
(6) Upon issuance of a new or renewed general permit,
the general permit shall be posted to the department's
website.
24. Notices required to be made by the department
pursuant to subsection 23 of this section may be made by
electronic mail. The department shall not be required to
make notice to any permittee or other person who has not
provided a current electronic mail address to the
department. In the event the department chooses to make
material modifications to the general permit before its
expiration, the department shall follow the public
participation process described in subsection 23 of this
section.
644.059. Agricultural nonpoint sources and
agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from
irrigated agriculture shall be exempt from permitting
requirements set forth in sections 644.006 to 644.141.
Agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from
irrigated agriculture shall not be considered unlawful under
subdivisions (1) and (2) of subsection 1 of section 644.051
unless such discharges or return flows have entered waters
of the state and have rendered such waters harmful,
16
detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety, or
welfare, or to industrial or agricultural uses, or to wild
animals, birds, or fish. For the purposes of this section,
agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from
irrigated agriculture shall include storm water and snow
melt runoff, drainage, and infiltration, including water
that leaves land as a result of the application of
irrigation water, both surface and subsurface, from standard
farming industry practices. This shall include but not be
limited to cultivation and tillage of soil, and production,
growing, raising, and harvesting of agricultural commodities
and livestock. Nothing in this section shall be construed
to effect, limit, or supersede sections 640.700 to 640.755
or any other law or regulation of concentrated animal
feeding operations.