GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

S	1 

SENATE BILL 554

Short Title:  Erosion Control for Railroads.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senator Staton.
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Referred to:  Environment and Natural Resources.
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April 10, 1991

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO: (1)  REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO ADOPT RAILROAD MAINTENANCE GUIDELINES RELATED TO WATER QUALITY; AND (2)  NO LONGER REQUIRE AN EROSION CONTROL PLAN FOR CERTAIN LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE RAILROAD RIGHTS-OF-WAY WHEN THESE ACTIVITIES ARE UNDERTAKEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AS SET FORTH IN THESE RAILROAD MAINTENANCE GUIDELINES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 113A-52 reads as rewritten:
"§ 113A-52.  Definitions.
As used in this Article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)	Repealed by Session Laws 1973, c. 1417, s. 1.
(2)	‘Commission' means the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission.
(3)	‘Department' means the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.
(4)	‘District' means any Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to Chapter 139, North Carolina General Statutes.
(5)	‘Erosion' means the wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof.
(6)	‘Land-disturbing activity' means any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.  This Article shall not apply to the following land-disturbing activities:
a.	Those undertaken on agricultural land for the production of plants and animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops, grains and feed crops, tobacco, cotton, and peanuts; dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules or goats, including the breeding and grazing of any or all such animals; bees and apiary products; fur animals;
b. 	Those undertaken on forestland for the production and harvesting of timber and timber products and which are conducted in accordance with Forest Practice Guidelines Related to Water Quality (best management practices) as adopted by the Department; 
c. 	Activities undertaken by persons as defined in G.S. 113A-52(8) who are otherwise regulated by the provisions of G.S. 74-46 through G.S. 74-68, the Mining Act of 1971; and
d.	Those undertaken by railroad companies for the repair, maintenance, reshaping, recontouring, reconstruction, or emergency reconstruction of railroad tracks, roadbeds, drainage ditches, bridges, and other features within railroad rights-of-way which are undertaken in accordance with the Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality adopted by the Department pursuant to G.S. 113A-52.2.
(7)	‘Local government' means any county, incorporated village, town, or city, or any combination of counties, incorporated villages, towns, and cities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of this Article.
(8)	‘Person' means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity.
(9)	‘Secretary' means the Secretary of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.
(10)	‘Sediment' means solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, gravity, or ice from its site of origin.
(11)	‘Working days' means days exclusive of Saturday and Sunday during which weather conditions or soil conditions permit land-disturbing activity to be undertaken."
Sec. 2.  Article 4 of Chapter 113A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 113A-52.2.  Railroad Maintenance Guidelines.
(a)	The Department shall adopt Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality (best management practices).  The adoption of Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality under this section is subject to the provisions of Chapter 150B of the General Statutes.
(b)	If land-disturbing activity undertaken on railroad rights-of-way for repair, maintenance, reshaping, recontouring, reconstruction, or emergency reconstruction of roadbeds, tracks, drainage ditches, bridges, and other features is not undertaken in accordance with Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality, the provisions of this Article shall apply to such activity.
(c)	The Secretary shall establish a Technical Advisory Committee to assist in the development and periodic review of Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality.  The Technical Advisory Committee shall consist of nine members as follows:  two members from the railroad industry, one member who is a consulting engineer, one member who is from the Department of Transportation, one member who is from Forest Resources Division of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, one member from the business community who is knowledgeable in railroads, one member who is knowledgeable in erosion and sedimentation control, one member who is knowledgeable in water quality, and one member from the conservation community."
Sec. 3.  Land-disturbing activities undertaken by railroad companies for the repair, maintenance, reshaping, recontouring, reconstruction, or emergency reconstruction of railroad tracks, roadbeds, drainage ditches, bridges, and other features within railroad rights-of-way are not subject to the provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 113A of the General Statutes until the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources has adopted the Railroad Maintenance Guidelines Related to Water Quality as adopted pursuant to Section 2 of this act.
Sec. 4.  This act is effective upon ratification.