| 13 | 13 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 |
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| 14 | 14 | | AN ACT TO RESTORE WETLANDS PROTECTIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 2 |
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| 15 | 15 | | The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SECTION 1.(a) Section 54 of S.L. 2014-120 is repealed. 4 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1.(b) Section 4.18 of S.L. 2015-286 is repealed. 5 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1.(c) G.S. 143-212 reads as rewritten: 6 |
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| 19 | 19 | | "§ 143-212. Definitions. 7 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the following definitions apply to this 8 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Article and Articles 21A and 21B of this Chapter: 9 |
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| 22 | 22 | | … 10 |
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| 23 | 23 | | (3a) "Isolated wetlands" means (i) wetlands confirmed to be isolated by the United 11 |
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| 24 | 24 | | States Army Corps of Engineers prior to June 22, 2020, and (ii) wetlands 12 |
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| 25 | 25 | | described as a basin wetland or bog in the North Carolina Wetland Assessment 13 |
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| 26 | 26 | | User Manual prepared by the North Carolina Wetland Functional Assessment 14 |
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| 27 | 27 | | Team, version 4.1, October 2010. The term "isolated wetland" does not 15 |
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| 28 | 28 | | include an isolated man-made ditch or pond constructed for stormwater 16 |
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| 29 | 29 | | management purposes or any other man-made isolated pond. 17 |
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| 30 | 30 | | … 18 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (6) "Waters" means any stream, river, brook, swamp, lake, sound, tidal estuary, 19 |
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| 32 | 32 | | bay, creek, reservoir, waterway, waterway, wetland, or other body or 20 |
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| 33 | 33 | | accumulation of water, whether surface or underground, public or private, or 21 |
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| 34 | 34 | | natural or artificial, that is contained in, flows through, or borders upon any 22 |
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| 35 | 35 | | portion of this State, including any portion of the Atlantic Ocean over which 23 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the State has jurisdiction. 24 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (7) "Wetland" means waters that are areas that are inundated or saturated by an 25 |
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| 38 | 38 | | accumulation of surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient 26 |
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| 39 | 39 | | to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of 27 |
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| 40 | 40 | | vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands do 28 |
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| 41 | 41 | | not include prior converted cropland as defined in the National Food Security 29 |
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| 42 | 42 | | Act Manual, Fifth Edition. Wetlands classified as waters of the State are 30 |
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| 43 | 43 | | limited to (i) waters of the United States as defined by 33 C.F.R. § 328.3 and 31 |
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| 44 | 44 | | 40 C.F.R. § 230.3 and (ii) isolated wetlands." 32 |
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| 45 | 45 | | SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law. 33 |
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