Chapter 419

2016 -- H 8325 Enacted 07/12/2016

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS

Introduced By: Representative Joseph S. Almeida

Date Introduced: June 10, 2016

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 42-17.4-12 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-17.4 entitled

"Wastewater Treatment Plants" is hereby amended to read as follows:

42-17.4-12. Renewal of operation permit -- Public notice and hearing requirement. --

(a) Upon the department of environmental management's completion of a draft, of a major Rhode

Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) permit (as those terms are defined in

the RIPDES Regulations effective March 1, 1993), the department of environmental management

shall hold a hearing on the draft permit in accordance with the requirements of the RIPDES

regulations. A notice of the hearing, which shall be mandatory, shall be published in a newspaper

of general circulation within the city or town where said facility is located, at least thirty (30)

days prior to the date of the hearing, at the hearing all persons interested shall be heard upon the

matter of the facility's draft permit. Written notice, which may be a copy of the newspaper

advertisement, shall be mailed to the wastewater-treatment facility whose permit is being heard,

and to the board of certification of operators of wastewater-treatment facilities and, where

applicable, to the parties specified in subsection (b) of this section at least twenty-one (21) days

prior to the date of the hearing. The newspaper notice shall be published as a display

advertisement using a type size at least as large as the standard type size used by the newspaper in

its news articles, and said notice shall:

(1) Specify the date, time, and place of the hearing;

(2) Specify the date which that the facility filed its license renewal application; and

(3) Indicate that language interpreters and interpreters for the hearing-impaired hearing

impaired will be made available upon notice to the facility forty-eight (48) hours prior to the

hearing date.

(b) A copy of the notice of public hearing, as published, shall be sent by first-class mail

or e-mail to the chief administrative officer of each city or town,; and to each member of the

town or city council; and state representatives and senators of each city and town who represent

an area that is located within two thousand (2,000) feet of the facility's perimeter.

(c) The public hearing shall have a qualified stenographer present or shall be recorded.

The department of environmental management shall provide a copy of the recording, or The the

stenographer shall provide a copy of the transcript to the department of environmental

management, division of water resources, and to the wastewater-treatment facility. Said

transcripts or recordings shall be received no later than thirty (30) days after the hearing. The

transcript or recording of the public hearing shall be available for inspection to the general public

at the facility.

(d) No defect in the form of any notice under this section shall render any granting of

licensure invalid unless the defect is found to be intentional or misleading.

(e) The costs of any notice, interpreters, stenographers, or transcripts, as required under

this section, shall be paid directly by the wastewater-treatment facility.

(f) The above requirements are to be construed as minimum requirements.

(g) The above hearing requirements shall take effect as of January 1, 1996.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC006131

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