Section 12-5-472. Acquisition, construction, and maintenance of projects authorized; standards and procedures; sites inventory; mitigation banks; costs

   (a) The division may acquire, design, construct, equip, operate, maintain, expand, and improve a project, in whole or in part, directly or under contract with others, including each of the facilities described in paragraph (10) of Code Section 12-5-471, for the purpose of promoting the use of the projects and the use of the industrial, recreational, commercial, and natural resources of the State of Georgia for the public good and general welfare; and, without limitation of the foregoing, the division is authorized to acquire land for such purposes; provided, however, that the division shall not engage in competition for customers for its environmental services with any local government offering or providing similar services.

(b) (1) Any project acquired, designed, constructed, equipped, operated, maintained, expanded, or improved by the division or which is funded in whole or in part by the division shall conform to and meet standards and procedures promulgated by the Board of Natural Resources pursuant to specific statutory authorization and direction for watershed and wetlands protection.

   (2) No such project shall include an electrical generation facility unless such facility does not cause the consumption of water from such reservoir for the generation of such power.

   (3) The local government or the division shall acquire sufficient land surrounding any reservoir funded in whole or in part by the division or acquired or constructed by the division to protect such reservoir, to provide for future expansion of such reservoir, and to provide passive recreational opportunities on and around such reservoir. No development shall be permitted on any such reservoir or its surrounding lands so acquired other than public development appropriate for such passive uses. The acquisition of such lands shall be a cost of project for purposes of this article, and the division, the authority, and the local government may utilize any funds available to them for such purposes.

   (4) Any such surrounding lands transferred to the state shall be part of the state park system under the control of the department pursuant to Code Section 12-3-31, and the management of passive recreational uses of any such surrounding lands controlled by the state shall be vested in the Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Division; except that, where it is not feasible to manage such land as a state park, then such surrounding lands transferred to the state may be managed as wildlife management areas by the Wildlife Resources Division of the department. Any such surrounding lands acquired by a local government shall be a local government park.

   (5) All uses of any reservoirs funded by the division in whole or in part or acquired or constructed by the division and any surrounding lands acquired by the division or local government or transferred to the state shall be subordinate to the use of such reservoirs for water supply purposes.

   (6) No motorized vessels other than those being operated by electric motors shall be allowed on any reservoirs funded by the division in whole or in part or acquired or constructed by the division. As used in this paragraph, the term "vessel" has the meaning provided by Code Section 52-7-3.

(c) The division, in cooperation with the department, shall take all reasonable steps at the earliest practicable date to inventory and survey feasible sites for water reservoirs within the State of Georgia. The director shall present a progress report of such inventory and survey to the legislative oversight committee created by Code Section 12-5-484 not later than October 1, 2008, together with a report describing measures undertaken by the division and the authority to expedite the accomplishment of the purposes of this article. The director shall thereafter report quarterly to such committee on the activities of the division and progress toward the accomplishment of such purposes in such format as may be directed by the cochairpersons of such committee. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the division take all reasonable and practicable steps to expedite the accomplishment of such purposes and that the division utilize its reporting responsibilities to apprise the committee promptly of legal, statutory, or other barriers to expedited accomplishment of such purposes, together with recommended measures to mitigate or avoid such barriers.

(d) The division may take all reasonable and practicable steps, in consultation with the Environmental Protection Division of the department, the Department of Transportation, and other appropriate state agencies, to create a wetlands mitigation bank or banks and a stream mitigation bank or banks for the purpose of facilitating the construction of projects. Costs and expenses of such bank or banks shall constitute costs of projects and shall be allocated to projects when appropriate.

(e) Costs of projects and other expenses incurred by the division for purposes of this article may be paid from funds made available to the division for such purposes and may be financed or paid by the authority as provided by Article 1 of Chapter 23 of Title 50.

Code 1981, § 12-5-472, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1304, § 1; Ga. L. 2008, p. 644, § 2-1/SB 342.