39-126. DUTIES OF STATE AND LOCAL UNITS OF GOVERNMENT. (1) All state agencies shall incorporate the adopted ground water quality protection plan in the administration of their programs and shall have such additional authority to promulgate rules to protect ground water quality as necessary to administer such programs which shall be in conformity with the ground water quality protection plan. Cities, counties and other political subdivisions of the state shall incorporate the ground water quality protection plan in their programs and are also authorized and encouraged to implement ground water quality protection policies within their respective jurisdictions, provided that the implementation is consistent with and not preempted by the laws of the state, the ground water quality protection plan and any rules promulgated thereunder. All state agencies, cities, counties and other political subdivisions shall cooperate with the department of environmental quality, the department of agriculture and the department of water resources in disseminating public information and education materials concerning the use and protection of ground water quality, in collecting ground water quality management data, and in conducting research on technologies to prevent or remedy contamination of ground water.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, whenever a state agency, city, county or other political subdivision of the state issues a permit or license which deals with the environment, the entity issuing the permit or license shall take into account the effect the permitted or licensed activity will have on the ground water quality of the state and it may attach conditions to the permit or license in order to mitigate potential or actual adverse effects from the permitted or licensed activity on the ground water quality of the state. Nothing contained in this section shall authorize a state agency, city, county or other political subdivision of the state to issue or require a permit or license which it is not otherwise allowed by law to issue or require.

(3) Except as otherwise provided by the ground water quality protection plan, if a permit or license which deals with the environment is required to be obtained from a state agency and that agency considers the effect of the permitted or licensed activity on ground water quality, after notice to other units of government which may otherwise have regulatory authority over the activity which is the subject of the permit or license, a city, county or other political subdivision of the state shall not prohibit, limit or otherwise condition the rights of the permittee or licensee under the permit or license on account of the effect the permitted or licensed activity may have on ground water quality.

Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to permit cities, counties or other political subdivisions of the state to regulate ground water quality with respect to any activity for which another statute or other statutes may have expressly or impliedly preempted such local ground water quality regulation.

History:

[39-126, added 1989, ch. 421, sec. 2, p. 1032; am. 2000, ch. 132, sec. 31, p. 340.]