SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILLS NOS. 1207, 1288,

1408 & 1409

88TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Reported from the Committee on Agriculture, February 15, 1996, with recommendation that the House Committee Substitute for House Bills Nos. 1207, 1288, 1408 & 1409 Do Pass.

DOUGLAS W. BURNETT, Chief Clerk

L2618.04C

AN ACT

To amend chapter 640, RSMo, relating to concentrated animal feeding operations by adding thereto fourteen new sections relating to the same subject, with an emergency clause.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Chapter 640, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto fourteen new sections, to be known as sections 640.700, 640.705, 640.710, 640.715, 640.717, 640.720, 640.725, 640.730, 640.735, 640.740, 640.745, 640.747, 640.750 and 640.755, to read as follows:

640.700. Sections 640.700 to 640.755 shall only apply to class IA facilities utilizing flush systems as defined by the department rules effective January 1, 1996.

640.705. For the purposes of sections 640.700 to 640.755, the following terms mean:

(1) "Department", the department of natural resources;

(2) "Facility", any class IA concentrated animal feeding operation utilizing flush systems as defined in the department's rules;

(3) "Flush systems", a system of moving or removing manure utilizing liquid as the primary agent as opposed to a primarily mechanical or automatic device;

(4) "Wet animal waste handling facility", includes all gravity outfall lines, recycle pump stations, recycle force mains and appurtenances.

640.710. The department shall promulgate rules regulating the establishment, permitting, design, construction, operation and management of facilities. The department shall have the sole and exclusive authority and jurisdiction to regulate the establishment, permitting, design, construction, operation and management of any facility. Such rules may require monitoring wells on a site-specific basis when, in the determination of the division of geology and land survey, such wells are located in hydrologically sensitive areas where the quality of ground-water may be compromised. Such rules and regulations shall be designed to accommodate current safe agricultural practices and afford a prudent degree of environmental protection.

640.715. 1. Prior to filing an application to acquire a permit from the department, the owner or operator of a proposed facility with flush system waste handling facilities shall provide the following information to the governing body of the county, recorder of deeds of the county, who shall record such notice, the largest public library in the county, the newspaper with the largest circulation published in the county, the local office of natural resources conservation service, and all municipal or rural water suppliers of such county or counties within which the real property is located:

(1) The number of animals anticipated at such facility;

(2) The waste handling plan and general layout of the facility;

(3) The location and number of acres of such facility; and

(4) Name, address, telephone number and registered agent for further information as it relates to subdivisions (1) to (3) of this subsection.

The department shall require proof of such notification upon accepting an application for a permit.

2. The department shall not issue a permit to a facility described in subsection 1 of this section to engage in any activity regulated by the department until thirty days after the owner or operator of such facility has complied with subsection 1 of this section.

3. The department shall issue a permit or respond with a letter of comment within forty-five days of receiving a completed permit application and verification of compliance with subsection 1 of this section.

640.717. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any corporation or cooperative engaged in farming as defined in subdivision (6) of section 350.010, RSMo, shall not be eligible for any state tax credits, deductions, state grants, loans or other financial or economic assistance, unless family farms and family farm corporations as defined in subdivisions (4) and (5) of section 350.010, RSMo, are eligible for such credits, deductions, grants, loans, or other assistance.

640.720. The owner or operator of every facility shall meet or exceed federal occupational safety and health administration rules and regulations regarding worker health and safety.

640.725. 1. The owner or operator of any facility with a flush-type waste system shall employ one or more persons who shall visually inspect all above-ground equipment and areas at least every twelve hours with a deviation of not to exceed two hours. The owner or operator of the facility shall keep records of each inspection. Such records shall be retained for three years. The department shall provide or approve a form provided by the owner or operator for each facility for such inspections.

2. Beginning January 1, 1997, all flush-type waste systems shall have, at a minimum, an electronic or mechanical shutoff of the system in the event of pipe stoppage or back-flow.

640.730. 1. The owner or operator of every facility, with a flush system waste handling facility that poses a risk as determined by the department to any public drinking water supply or any aquatic life, or lies within a drainage basin and is within three hundred feet of any adjacent landowner, shall have a failsafe containment structure or earthen dam that will contain, in the event of an unauthorized discharge from a flush system waste handling facility, a minimum volume equal to the maximum capacity of flushing volume in any twenty-four-hour period of such facility.

2. Construction of such structure or dam, as provided in subsection 1 of this section, shall commence within ninety days of the effective date of this act.

640.735. Within twenty-four hours, any unauthorized discharge by a flush system waste handling facility that is required to be reported to the department shall also be reported by the owner or operator of such facility to all adjoining property owners as listed on the site-specific permit.

640.740. There is hereby established in the state treasury the "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Indemnity Fund", to be known as the "fund" for the purposes of sections 640.740 to 640.747. All fees or other moneys payable pursuant to the provisions of section 640.745 or other moneys received shall be payable to and collected by the director of the department of revenue and deposited in this fund. The money in this fund, upon appropriation, shall be expended to close class IA and class IB concentrated animal feeding operations as defined in the department's rules, that have been placed in the control of the government due to bankruptcy or failure to pay property taxes, or if the class IA or class IB concentrated animal feeding operation is abandoned property. "Abandoned property", for the purposes of this section, means real property previously used for, or which has the potential to be used for, agricultural purposes which reverted to the ownership of the state, a county, or municipal government, or an agency thereof, through donation, purchase, tax delinquency, foreclosure, default or settlement, including conveyance by deed in lieu of foreclosure, and has been vacant for a period of not less than three years. Any portion of the fund not immediately needed for the purposes authorized shall be invested by the state treasurer as provided by the constitution and laws of this state. All income from such investments shall be deposited in the fund. Any unexpended balance in the fund at the end of any appropriation period shall not be transferred to the general revenue fund and, accordingly, shall be exempt from the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo, relating to the transfer of funds to the general revenue funds of the state by the state treasurer.

640.745. 1. The owner or operator of each class IA concentrated animal feeding operation shall remit to the department of revenue a fee of ten cents per animal unit permitted, for ten years, on an annual basis. The department of revenue shall provide forms to be sent in with the remittance.

2. The fund shall be administered by the department consistent with rules and regulations promulgated by the Missouri clean water commission for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of sections 640.700 to 640.755, relating to closure of class IA, class IB, and class II concentrated animal feeding operation wastewater lagoons.

3. The fund administrators may only expend moneys for animal waste lagoon closure activities on real property which:

(1) Have reverted to the ownership of the state, a county, or municipal government, or an agency thereof, through donation, purchase, tax delinquency, foreclosure, default or settlement, including conveyance by deed in lieu of foreclosure, and pose a threat to human health, the environment, or a threat to groundwater. Lagoons which are capable to sustaining fish and aquatic life do not qualify for closure funding; and

(2) The state, county, or municipal government, or an agency thereof, has made reasonable and prudent efforts to sell said property to a qualifying purchaser as defined by rule.

4. The fund administrators shall expend no more than one hundred thousand dollars per lagoon for animal waste lagoon closure activities. The fund administrators shall only expend those moneys necessary to achieve a minimum level of closure and still protect human health and the environment. Closure activities shall include lagoon dewatering and removal of animal waste sludge, if any, both of which shall be land applied at a nutrient management application rate based on the most limiting nutrient as determined by Missouri clean water commission regulation. After dewatering, lagoons which are located in a drainage basin and are capable of meeting all applicable pond requirements of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) with minimal additional expense should be maintained as a pond. Otherwise, the lagoon berms should be breached and graded in such a manner to reasonably conform to the surrounding land contours.

640.747. In the event the department determines that a class IA or class IB concentrated animal feeding operation has been successfully closed by the owner or operator, all moneys paid by such operation into the concentrated animal feeding operation indemnity fund shall be returned to such operation.

640.750. The department shall conduct at least one on-site inspection of each facility quarterly.

640.755. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated under the authority of sections 640.700 to 640.755 shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section 536.024, RSMo.

Section B. Because immediate action is necessary to protect the public welfare, section A of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public welfare, peace and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.