Section 327IAC17-2-4. General conditions

   The recipient of the general permit shall comply with the following general conditions:

(1) Any structure or fill authorized shall be properly maintained, including maintenance to ensure public safety.

(2) Appropriate soil erosion and sediment controls must be used and maintained in effective operating condition during construction, and all exposed soil and other fills must be permanently stabilized at the earliest practicable date. The permittee shall deposit any dredged material in a contained upland disposal area to prevent sediment run-off to any water body. Sampling may be required to determine if the dredged sediment is contaminated.

(3) No activity may substantially disrupt the necessary life cycle movements of those species of aquatic life indigenous to the wetland, including those species that normally migrate through the area.

(4) Heavy equipment working in wetlands must be placed on mats, or other measures must be taken to minimize soil disturbance.

(5) The permittee must provide water quality management measures that will ensure that the authorized work does not result in more than minimal degradation of water quality.

(6) No activity is authorized under this general permit where state endangered, threatened, or rare species are documented on a permanent or seasonal basis within a one-half (1/2) mile radius of the proposed project site by the Indiana Natural Heritage Data Center.

(7) Upon completion of the wetland activity and any required mitigation, the permittee shall submit a signed certification to the department. The certification will include the following:

(A) A statement that:

(i) the authorized work was done in accordance with the department authorization, including any conditions; and

(ii) any required mitigation was completed in accordance with the permit conditions.

(B) The signature of the permittee certifying the completion of the work and mitigation.

(8) More than one (1) general permit provision may be used for a single and complete project to the extent applicable, provided that the acreage loss of SRWs authorized by all general permit provisions utilized does not exceed the acreage limit of the general permit provision with the highest specified acreage limit.

(9) No activity may occur in the proximity of a public water supply intake, except where the activity is for repair of the public water supply intake structures.

(10) No activity, including structures and work in SRWs or discharges of dredged or fill material, may consist of unsuitable material, for example:

(A) trash;

(B) debris;

(C) car bodies; and

(D) asphalt;

and material used for construction or discharged must be free from toxic pollutants in toxic amounts.

(11) When determining compensatory mitigation to reasonably offset the loss of wetlands allowed by the general permit, the commissioner will consider the following factors:

(A) The commissioner will establish a preference for restoration of wetlands as compensatory mitigation, with preservation used only in exceptional circumstances.

(B) Permittees may propose the use of mitigation banks to meet the wetland mitigation requirements.

(C) In all cases that require compensatory mitigation, the mitigation provisions will specify the party responsible for accomplishing or complying, or both, with the mitigation plan.

(12) Activities in breeding areas for migratory waterfowl must be avoided to the maximum extent practicable.

(13) Any temporary fills must be removed in their entirety and the affected areas returned to their preexisting elevation.

(14) Critical resource waters include critical habitat for endangered or threatened species, state natural heritage sites, outstanding national resource waters, environmental rules board designated waters, for example, outstanding state or national resource waters, or both, outstanding state protected wetland, or other waters officially designated by the state as having particular environmental or ecological significance and identified by the commissioner after notice and opportunity for public comment. Critical resource waters affect permitting as follows:

(A) Except as noted in clause (B), discharges of dredged or fill material into SRWs are not authorized by section 2(b)(7), 2(b)(8), or 2(b)(11) of this rule for any activity within, or directly affecting, critical resource waters, including wetlands adjacent to such waters.

(B) For section 2(b)(1), 2(b)(9), 2(b)(10), and 2(b)(11) of this rule, the commissioner may authorize activities under these general permits only after it is determined that the impacts to the critical resource waters will be no more than minimal.

(15) For purposes of this general condition, 100-year floodplains will be identified through the existing Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps or FEMA-approved local floodplain maps. Discharges of dredged or fill material into SRWs within the mapped 100-year floodplain, resulting in permanent abovegrade fills, are not authorized by general permit.

(16) The permittee shall clearly mark the construction limits shown in the plans at the tract during construction.

(17) The permittee shall allow the commissioner or an authorized representative of the commissioner (including an authorized contractor), upon the presentation of credentials to:

(A) enter upon the tract;

(B) have access to and copy at reasonable times any records that must be kept under the conditions of the permit;

(C) inspect, at reasonable times any:

(i) monitoring or operational equipment or method;

(ii) collection, treatment, pollution management, or discharge facility or device;

(iii) practices required by the permit; and

(iv) wetland mitigation site; and

(D) sample or monitor any discharge of pollutants or any mitigation site.

(18) Any activity involving fill that is associated with additional impacts to waters of the state, such as dredging, excavation, or damming, is not authorized by a general permit unless the total area of wetland affected is less than or equal to the area allowed by the general permit.

(19) Execute the project as proposed in the notice of intent.

(20) Implement the mitigation plan submitted with the notice of intent.

(21) Complete all activities necessary to construct the mitigation wetland within one (1) year of the effective date of this general permit, unless the department grants a written extension upon request.

(22) Clearly identify, on the tract, all mitigation wetlands after construction of the mitigation wetlands. Install survey markers to identify the boundaries of the wetlands. If the mitigation wetlands being constructed are adjacent to or near existing wetlands, then the survey markers must distinguish the constructed wetland from the existing wetland.

(23) An applicant establishing a Class I, Class II, or Class III mitigation wetland must file a signed and recorded environmental notice, which describes the compensatory mitigation contained in the mitigation plan, with the department within sixty (60) days of the applicant's release from monitoring requirements.

(Water Pollution Control Division; 327 IAC 17-2-4; filed May 25, 2005, 10:45 a.m.: 28 IR 2976; errata filed Oct 11, 2005, 12:00 p.m.: 29 IR 548; readopted filed Jun 15, 2011, 11:15 a.m.: 20110713-IR-327110193BFA; filed Nov 10, 2014, 1:51 p.m.: 20141210-IR-327130290FRA)