Pubdate: Thu, 07 May 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

WATERBOARDING WEED

California's water board is making a bid to become the state's 
strictest marijuana regulator.

Following cultivation site visits earlier this year, the North Coast 
Regional Water Quality Control Board has proposed a system to 
register nearly every outdoor grower in Northern California.

The regulatory program, as drafted, would require registration - 
including names and an annual fee - from growers whose properties 
utilize drainage features, stream crossings, water diversion or 
storage, or fertilizers, and whose grows produce irrigation runoff, 
waste and domestic wastewater. While the order will exempt grows of 
fewer than 6 mature or 12 immature plants, it's hard to imagine an 
outdoor grow that doesn't feature at least one of the impacts listed 
as a "controllable water quality factor."

The move is a response to a region "inundated with marijuana 
cultivation" and improper development on private rural properties, 
according to the board, which uses the federal Clean Water Act and 
state laws to frame its proposed guidelines.

Operators and property owners of cultivation sites would be 
responsible for registering grows, which would be categorized in 
three tiers. Tier One grows would be considered "low risk," with 
cultivation areas under 2,000 square feet at least 200 feet from 
surface water, gradual slopes and no water diversion between May 15 
and October 31.

Tier Two growers would implement a water resource protection plan, 
and Tier Three sites would require "cleanup, restoration and/or 
remediation based on current or past land development/management activities."

All tiers would require enrollment and payment of an annual fee, and 
be subject to administrative penalties if growers fall out of 
compliance. The board anticipates a conciliatory approach in the 
beginning of implementation, with outreach to growers and industry 
organizations to encourage voluntary compliance. With an estimated 
4,000 large-scale grows in Humboldt County alone, it's unclear 
exactly how many farmers will be sending in their registration.

That approach has worked in the early stages of a site-visit pilot 
program that the state water board launched in January, with Sproul 
Creek growers eager to hear what they needed to come into compliance, 
according to state officials. Should the board meet "recalcitrant" 
growers, the draft report says, enforcement, including administrative 
penalties and required waste discharge reports, could follow.

The proposal is still in draft form, and the water board is holding 
an eight-hour public workshop this Thursday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 5 
p.m. at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka. Comments on the proposal 
will be accepted through June 8. Visit 
www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast or find this story at 
www.northcoastjournal.com for links to the entire proposed draft and 
more information.

Meanwhile, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors agreed 
unanimously to sign a six-county letter urging state legislators to 
ensure local control over the cultivation, production and sale of 
marijuana should recreational, or adult-use, weed go legal in 2016.

Supervisors Mark Lovelace and Estelle Fennell represented the county 
at a March summit in Santa Rosa, meeting with lawmakers from Del 
Norte, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma and Trinity counties to discuss their 
"unique insight into the significant problems and opportunities" 
posed by legalization and regulation.

Saying that marijuana's economic, environmental and cultural effects 
vary widely from region to region, the counties called for Sacramento 
lawmakers to listen to small communities when it comes to developing 
licensing, taxation, land use and environmental regulations.

Without the statement, Fennell said, "we might wind up with the kind 
of legislation that might be very deleterious to our environment - to 
every aspect of our life in Humboldt County. ... We're making a 
powerful statement and I think it will be heard."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom