In My View - A Call to Arms - March 2023

In My View

March 2023

You may have already heard about the Governor’s budget, which is House Bill 2.?In that budget, funding is being removed from a number of certifications and licenses, this would include removing the certifications for Wetland Scientists and Soil Scientists.?The Governor cannot alone remove legislation that was enacted by the House and Senate.?To do that, there is a House bill HB-655-FN introduced to repeal NH RSA 310-A, thus eliminating the Board of Natural Scientists.?The hearing for the bill is scheduled for March 8th.??I am writing this to alert you to the concerns of many that critical land resource information for development will be removed by dissolution of these certifications.?I want to share some comments by others:

“This would be problematic for the vast majority of municipalities who have incorporated into their land use regulations requirements for subdivision plans and site development plans to be stamped by licensed professionals, (soil scientists and wetland scientists in particular). Most local boards to not have the technical expertise to evaluate plans to determine if they adequately protect the state’s valuable aquatic resources. These resources are critical to supporting NH’s economy that relies heavily on these resources to support tourism and recreation.” CA

“I think it is also important to point out that if plans are not accurate because they were prepared by unqualified individuals, it could lead to property owner disputes, legal challenges, regulatory non-compliance, and incompatibility with federal regulations, which would complicate, not simplify, getting projects shovel ready for construction.”?CA

“We certainly need to make the Governor, Governor's Office aware of the importance and role of Wetland and Soil Scientist in the State of New Hampshire. Our alliances with NHDES, towns, developers, etc. certainly rely on our professional services and have adopted our certification/services into their rules, ordinances, work and have been maintained for decades.” DB?

“Their (municipalities) regulations require these certifications.?Seems to me, we will do OK either way, but those entities who rely on our expertise will be impacted.?If this goes away, anyone in NH can do soil and wetland work.?And we will be back to the wild west of the late 80s and 90s.?It will be a buyer beware result.?When the feds step in because the quality of work was wrong, the owner will sue the engineer who will sue whoever did the work.?There will be very little quality control.?The people being hurt will be the municipalities that rely on accurate work and the property owners who rely on individuals they pray are doing it right.” RS

“… in 2018, the Governor and Commissioner were touting the development and release of the new NHDES Wetlands Bureau Administrative Rules. One of the overarching goals of the new rules was to make the permitting process more predictable and based in science. While the new rules are a bit disjointed and need some tweaking, there are many good elements that allow for greater permitting predictability and the use of scientific principles. The new NHDES Wetland Rules certainly weigh heavily on the analysis of wetland functions and values by wetland scientists. Perhaps a talking point is: Eliminating the use of Certified Wetland Scientists undermines the Governor and Commissioner’s original intent and it will interfere with the current permitting processes.” JA

“The Governor and the Governor’s office must be made aware of a devastating unintended consequence of eliminating Certified Wetland Scientists.?Today, Certified Wetland Scientists provide the “science” to NHDES that assist their personnel in making scientifically based permitting decisions.?Certified Wetland Scientists act as liaisons between developers and NHDES.?This is, after all, why the new Wetlands Bureau Administrative rules place so much emphasis on collaboration with Certified Wetland Scientists.?The joint Legislative Performance Audit and Oversight Committee in their 2019 Performance Audit of the NHDES Wetlands Bureau made repeated references to the Importance of Professional Credentials (Certified Wetland Scientists).?Without the scientific basis provided to the Department by the Certified Wetland Scientists, the undeniable result will be increase in inconsistent, arbitrary, and non-science based permitting decisions at all levels, both municipal and state.?The necessary appeals of these decisions by the landowner or developer will increase application review times, increased costs to applicants, and may even result in another audit looking into government overreach.”?(Paraphrased from JA)

I think the comments above reflect the understanding that the original certifications of Soil Scientists and Wetland Scientists was not implemented by the Legislature as a restriction of trade for protection of local professionals, but rather a consumer protection for those wanting to use the land.?The certifications were implemented for the protection of the health of the natural resources, the safety of the public from unqualified individuals making erroneous wetland or soil maps, and the welfare of the society as a whole to control the destruction of natural resources that have not been correctly identified or characterized.?

The removal of the certification of Soil Scientists and Wetland Scientists represents a dereliction of duty by the Governor and the Legislature to protect the natural resources of the State of New Hampshire.

I encourage you to contact the Governor and Legislature to make your views known on this issue.?Only by your involvement can you protect the natural resources of the state.

The phone number to contact Governor Sununu is 603-271-2121, with fax 603-271-7680.?Email to Governor Sununu is [email protected].

Even though the Governor’s office receives hundreds of phone calls and emails a day, just by sending a quick email stating opposition to the removal of Certified Wetland Scientists and Certified Soil Scientists by HB-655-FN, will go a long way in stopping this travesty.

Thank you!?

In My View” is an opinion article that will be posted to you once a month.?It is my view of wetland and other environmental issues that will or may affect your business or organization.?It will sometimes give you updates on new rules or legislation that has recently passed.?In other cases, I will discuss legislation that is “in the works” at our state capital.?As the name would imply, it is my view of what this rule, legislation or change means to you.?I am constantly meeting with clients, friends and local regulatory officials who are asking me what this rule means or what that piece of legislation does.?For that reason, I am sending this out to associates of GES who might care to have this information.?I will not be political, but I do reserve the right to be opinionated.?If you do not wish to receive further articles, let us know by a “reply to”, and we will delete your name.?If you know of someone who might want to receive future articles, just send this on to them and copy us.?We will add them to the distribution list.?If in the coming months there is a topic, law, rule or regulation that you would like me to discuss, let us know.?If I feel that I am competent to say something about it, I will discuss it in the future.

That concludes this Months article.?Each past article will be stored on our website at?HYPERLINK "https://www.gesinc.biz" www.gesinc.biz or Google:?Gove Environmental Services, Inc.?I hope this will be of value to you.

Jim Gove? [email protected] 603-778-0644 ext. 15 603-493-0014