Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 524
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 823540                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/17/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Transportation (Latvala) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 577 and 578
    4  insert:
    5         Section 6. Subsection (4) of section 310.002, Florida
    6  Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         310.002 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, except where
    8  the context clearly indicates otherwise:
    9         (4) “Port” means any place in the state into which vessels
   10  enter or depart and includes, without limitation, Fernandina,
   11  Nassau Inlet, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Canaveral, Port
   12  Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Key
   13  West, Boca Grande, Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, Tampa, Port
   14  Tampa, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Apalachicola,
   15  Carrabelle, Panama City, Port St. Joe, and Pensacola.
   16         Section 7. Subsection (1) of section 311.09, Florida
   17  Statutes, is amended to read:
   18         311.09 Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
   19  Development Council.—
   20         (1) The Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
   21  Development Council is created within the Department of
   22  Transportation. The council consists of the following 18 17
   23  members: the port director, or the port director’s designee, of
   24  each of the ports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
   25  Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
   26  St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
   27  West, and Fernandina; the secretary of the Department of
   28  Transportation or his or her designee; the director of the
   29  Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development or his or her
   30  designee; and the secretary of the Department of Community
   31  Affairs or his or her designee.
   32         Section 8. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
   33  374.976, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   34         374.976 Authority to address impacts of waterway
   35  development projects.—
   36         (1) Each inland navigation district is empowered and
   37  authorized to undertake programs intended to alleviate the
   38  problems associated with its waterway or waterways, including,
   39  but not limited to, the following:
   40         (c) The district is authorized to aid and cooperate with
   41  the Federal Government; state; member counties; nonmember
   42  counties that contain any part of the intracoastal waterway
   43  within their boundaries; navigation districts; the seaports of
   44  Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Fort Pierce, Palm
   45  Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg,
   46  Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key West, and
   47  Fernandina; and local governments within the district in
   48  planning and carrying out public navigation, local and regional
   49  anchorage management, beach renourishment, public recreation,
   50  inlet management, environmental education, and boating safety
   51  projects, directly related to the waterways. The district is
   52  also authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the
   53  United States Army Corps of Engineers, state, and member
   54  counties, and to covenant in any such cooperative agreement to
   55  pay part of the costs of acquisition, planning, development,
   56  construction, reconstruction, extension, improvement, operation,
   57  and maintenance of such projects.
   58         Section 9. Subsection (9) of section 403.021, Florida
   59  Statutes, is amended to read:
   60         403.021 Legislative declaration; public policy.—
   61         (9)(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is
   62  essential to preserve and maintain authorized water depth in the
   63  existing navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, and
   64  harbor berths of this state in order to provide for the
   65  continued safe navigation of deepwater shipping commerce. The
   66  department shall recognize that maintenance of authorized water
   67  depths consistent with port master plans developed pursuant to
   68  s. 163.3178(2)(k) is an ongoing, continuous, beneficial, and
   69  necessary activity that is in the public interest; and it shall
   70  develop a regulatory process that shall enable the ports of this
   71  state to conduct such activities in an environmentally sound,
   72  safe, expeditious, and cost-efficient manner. It is the further
   73  intent of the Legislature that the permitting and enforcement of
   74  dredging, dredged-material management, and other related
   75  activities for Florida’s deepwater ports pursuant to this
   76  chapter and chapters 161, 253, and 373 shall be consolidated
   77  within the department’s Division of Water Resource Management
   78  and, with the concurrence of the affected deepwater port or
   79  ports, may be administered by a district office of the
   80  department or delegated to an approved local environmental
   81  program.
   82         (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
   83  waters, dredged-material management sites, port harbors,
   84  navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
   85  deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
   86  Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
   87  Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
   88  Petersburg, Pensacola, Fernandina, and Key West.
   89         Section 10. Subsection (26) of section 403.061, Florida
   90  Statutes, is amended to read:
   91         403.061 Department; powers and duties.—The department shall
   92  have the power and the duty to control and prohibit pollution of
   93  air and water in accordance with the law and rules adopted and
   94  promulgated by it and, for this purpose, to:
   95         (26)(a) Develop standards and criteria for waters used for
   96  deepwater shipping which standards and criteria consider
   97  existing water quality; appropriate mixing zones and other
   98  requirements for maintenance dredging in previously constructed
   99  deepwater navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, or
  100  harbor berths; and appropriate mixing zones for disposal of
  101  spoil material from dredging and, where necessary, develop a
  102  separate classification for such waters. Such classification,
  103  standards, and criteria shall recognize that the present
  104  dedicated use of these waters is for deepwater commercial
  105  navigation.
  106         (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
  107  waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors, navigation channels,
  108  turning basins, and harbor berths used for deepwater commercial
  109  navigation in the ports of Jacksonville, Tampa, Port Everglades,
  110  Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port
  111  Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St. Petersburg, Port Bartow,
  112  Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal River Canal, Boca Grande,
  113  Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
  114  
  115  The department shall implement such programs in conjunction with
  116  its other powers and duties and shall place special emphasis on
  117  reducing and eliminating contamination that presents a threat to
  118  humans, animals or plants, or to the environment.
  119         Section 11. Subsection (3) of section 403.813, Florida
  120  Statutes, is amended to read:
  121         403.813 Permits issued at district centers; exceptions.—
  122         (3) For maintenance dredging conducted under this section
  123  by the seaports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
  124  Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
  125  St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
  126  West, and Fernandina or by inland navigation districts:
  127         (a) A mixing zone for turbidity is granted within a 150
  128  meter radius from the point of dredging while dredging is
  129  ongoing, except that the mixing zone may not extend into areas
  130  supporting wetland communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or
  131  hardbottom communities.
  132         (b) The discharge of the return water from the site used
  133  for the disposal of dredged material shall be allowed only if
  134  such discharge does not result in a violation of water quality
  135  standards in the receiving waters. The return-water discharge
  136  into receiving waters shall be granted a mixing zone for
  137  turbidity within a 150-meter radius from the point of discharge
  138  during and immediately after the dredging, except that the
  139  mixing zone may not extend into areas supporting wetland
  140  communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or hardbottom
  141  communities.
  142         (c) The state may not exact a charge for material that this
  143  subsection allows a public port or an inland navigation district
  144  to remove.
  145         (d) The use of flocculants at the site used for disposal of
  146  the dredged material is allowed if the use, including supporting
  147  documentation, is coordinated in advance with the department and
  148  the department has determined that the use is not harmful to
  149  water resources.
  150         (e) This subsection does not prohibit maintenance dredging
  151  of areas where the loss of original design function and
  152  constructed configuration has been caused by a storm event,
  153  provided that the dredging is performed as soon as practical
  154  after the storm event. Maintenance dredging that commences
  155  within 3 years after the storm event shall be presumed to
  156  satisfy this provision. If more than 3 years are needed to
  157  commence the maintenance dredging after the storm event, a
  158  request for a specific time extension to perform the maintenance
  159  dredging shall be submitted to the department, prior to the end
  160  of the 3-year period, accompanied by a statement, including
  161  supporting documentation, demonstrating that contractors are not
  162  available or that additional time is needed to obtain
  163  authorization for the maintenance dredging from the United
  164  States Army Corps of Engineers.
  165         Section 12. Section 403.816, Florida Statutes, is amended
  166  to read:
  167         403.816 Permits for maintenance dredging of deepwater ports
  168  and beach restoration projects.—
  169         (1) The department shall establish a permit system under
  170  this chapter and chapter 253 which provides for the performance,
  171  for up to 25 years from the issuance of the original permit, of
  172  maintenance dredging of permitted navigation channels, port
  173  harbors, turning basins, harbor berths, and beach restoration
  174  projects approved pursuant to chapter 161. However, permits
  175  issued for dredging river channels which are not a part of a
  176  deepwater port shall be valid for no more than five years. No
  177  charge shall be exacted by the state for material removed during
  178  such maintenance dredging by a public port authority.
  179         (2) The provisions of s. 253.77 do not apply to a permit
  180  for maintenance dredging and spoil site approval when there is
  181  no change in the size or location of the spoil disposal site and
  182  when the applicant provides documentation to the department that
  183  the appropriate lease, easement, or consent of use for the
  184  project site issued pursuant to chapter 253 is recorded in the
  185  county where the project is located.
  186         (3) The provisions of this section relating to ports apply
  187  only to the port waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors,
  188  navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
  189  deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
  190  Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
  191  Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
  192  Petersburg, Port Bartow, Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal
  193  River Canal, Boca Grande, Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
  194  
  195  
  196  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  197         And the title is amended as follows:
  198         Between lines 32 and 33
  199  insert:
  200         amending s. 310.002, F.S.; redefining the term “port” to
  201  include Port Citrus; amending s. 311.09, F.S.; including a
  202  representative of Port Citrus as a member of the Florida Seaport
  203  Transportation and Economic Development Council; amending s.
  204  374.976, F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus in
  205  provisions relating to the authority of inland navigation
  206  districts; amending s. 403.021, F.S.; conforming provisions to
  207  include Port Citrus in legislative declarations relating to
  208  environmental control; amending s. 403.061, F.S.; conforming
  209  provisions to include Port Citrus in provisions relating to
  210  powers of the Department of Environmental Protection; amending
  211  s. 403.813, F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus
  212  in provisions relating to permits issued at Department of
  213  Environmental Protection district centers; amending s. 403.816,
  214  F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus in provisions
  215  relating to certain maintenance projects at deepwater ports and
  216  beach restoration projects;
  217