GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1219*

Short Title:  Animal Waste Funds.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Albertson; Parnell, Soles, Carpenter, Kerr, Hoyle, Perdue, Speed, Jordan, Rand, Horton, Martin of Pitt, Conder, and Warren.

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Referred to:  Appropriations.

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May 20, 1996

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO SUPPORT CERTAIN RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BLUE RIBBON STUDY COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURAL WASTE.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  (a)	There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, the sum of three million eight hundred thousand dollars ($3,800,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year for the Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control to be used for the costs associated with obtaining an approved animal waste management plan.
(b)	G.S. 143-215.74(b)(5) reads as rewritten:
"(5)	Funding may be provided to assist practices including conservation tillage, diversions, filter strips, field borders, critical area plantings, sediment control structures, sod-based rotations, grassed waterways, strip-cropping, terraces, cropland conversion to permanent vegetation, grade control structures, water control structures, emergency spillways, riparian buffers or equivalent controls, odor control best management practices, insect control best management practices, and animal waste managements systems and application.  Funding for animal waste management shall be allocated for projects in river basins such that the funds will have the greatest impact in improving water quality."
(c)	¨G.S. 143-215.74(b)(6) reads as rewritten:
"(6)	State funding shall be limited to seventy-five percent (75%) of the average cost for each practice with the assisted farmer providing twenty-five percent (25%) of the cost (which may include in-kind support) with a maximum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) total to each applicant."
Sec. 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, the sum of one million four hundred seventeen thousand five hundred dollars ($1,417,500) for the 1996-97 fiscal year to support the Division to provide technical assistance to operators of animal operations that are in the process of obtaining an approved animal waste management plan pursuant to the animal waste management rules.
Sec. 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Environmental Management, Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, the sum of four hundred eighty-four thousand dollars ($484,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year to establish and support positions in the Division to conduct permitting, inspection, and enforcement activities for animal waste management systems.
Sec. 4.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture the sum of six hundred seventy-two thousand eight hundred dollars ($672,800) for the 1996-97 fiscal year to establish and support seven positions in the Department to conduct tests of animal waste and of soils of crops onto which the waste has been applied at animal operations.
Sec. 5.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources the sum of two hundred eighty-six thousand dollars ($286,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year for the Department to enter into a contract with a research institution to design and implement a scientifically valid study that uses available technology for the purpose of identifying the nonpoint sources of nitrogen in the surface waters of the State.  The results of this study shall be reported to the Department and to the Environmental Review Commission no later than January 1, 1999.
Sec. 6.  (a)	There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources the sum of four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year for the Department to enter into a contract with a research institution to design and implement a scientifically based study for the purpose of determining the extent to which lagoons pose a threat, if any, to the groundwater of this State.  Lagoons that are representative of soil types and hydrologic conditions in North Carolina shall be selected for this study.
(b)	For purposes of this study, a lagoon is posing a threat to groundwater if nitrate levels exceed 10 parts per million in a location beyond 250 feet of the boundary of the lagoon.
(c)	An environmental interest group, a regulatory agency, and a commodity group representing the pork industry shall participate in this study.
(d)	The results of this study shall be reported to the Department and to the Environmental Review Commission no later than January 1, 1999.
Sec. 7.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year for the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service at North Carolina State University to serve as a focal point for experimentation with and testing of alternative animal waste disposal technologies for use in agriculture.
Sec. 8.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, the sum of six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) for the 1996-97 fiscal year to enter into a contract to conduct research into economically feasible odor control technology and to provide detailed economic analysis of odor management alternatives; provided these funds are matched with an equal sum from private sources.  Accurate information regarding the identity of research funding sources under this section shall be published and made available to the general public.
Sec. 9.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1996.