Agriculture:
Ag Water Permit Changes

SB 191 was dropped last session but came back to life in 2006. The bill would have required the GA EPD to allow applicants for environmental permits to hire their own regulators to review their permit applications.  EPD forced the bill to be watered down to almost nothing: the department, solely on its own initiative, could approve various engineers to for the purpose of “reviewing” permit applications for completeness. On March 16, a substitute version of the bill started off with watered-down language that said little more than "obeying the law is lawful", then launched into a provision providing for issuance of new agricultural irrigation permits in the Flint River basin, an area which has been under a “permit moratorium” for the last several years, which limits were finally lifted late last year, after extensive scientific review.   The new proposals provide for revocable permits which will also require filing fees and certified meters to measure use, major changes in ag permits, which have heretofore been entirely free to applicants and unmonitored.

Status

Action Needed