WHEREAS:

1.  The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Lahontan Region (Regional Board) has received information from Caltrans-District 3 to complete a Report of Waste Discharge and Water Quality Certification application for the Highway 267 Truckee Bypass Project (Project).

2.  Caltrans-District 3 is proposing to construct 2.4 mile relocation of State Routes 89 and 267 east of the existing routes by bypassing downtown Truckee. Additionally, the proposed project includes a new interchange to connect Routes 267 and 89 with Interstate 80 and a new crossing of the Truckee River east of the Town of Truckee.

3.  The Lahontan Regional Board has adopted a Water Quality Control Plan for the Lahontan
Region (Basin Plan). The Basin Plan prohibits the discharge or threatened discharge, attributable to human activities, of solid or liquid waste materials including soil, silt, clay sand and other organic and earthen materials, to lands within the 100-year floodplain of the Truckee River.  The Basin Plan contains provisions for granting exceptions to the above-cited prohibition on the discharge of waste to lands within the 100-year floodplain of the Truckee River. Exceptions may be allowed for essential transportation facilities identified in a county general plan when the proposed discharger has demonstrated that all applicable Best Management Practices and mitigation measures have been incorporated into the project to minimize any potential soil erosion and/or surface runoff problems, and to offset the adverse effects of the project on the 100-year floodplain and wetlands.

4.  The project involves disturbance to the 100-year floodplain of the Truckee River and an exception to the above mentioned prohibition must be granted before the Lahontan Regional Board Executive Officer can issue a waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements or a waiver of Water Quality Certification for the project. The Regional Board does not have a quorum and consequently, cannot act on this project. California Water Code section 13320 authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to take action, on its own motion, where a regional board has failed to act. The Regional Board's Executive Officer and Caltrans have requested State Board action since, due to the short construction season in the Truckee area, any delays in permit processing will set the project back an entire construction season.

5.  April 10, 1992, Caltrans certified a Final Environmental Impact Report for the project pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA, Public Resources Code section 21000, et seq.). Additionally, an Environmental Reevaluation was prepared in April of 1998. Mitigation measures are included to reduce and offset adverse effects on water quality from the project.

6.  The State Water Resources Control Board has heard and considered all public comments on this matter at a public meeting (in Sacramento on July 15, 1999) and determined that the project meets the exception criteria stated in Finding No. 3, above, for the following reasons:

C.  The project will not involve the loss of floodplain area, volume, or function.

The SWRCB:

1. Will review, on its own motion, the failure of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to act upon the request for an exception to the prohibition.

2. The criteria established for exceptions to the prohibitions on waste discharges to lands within the 100-year floodplain of the Truckee River, stated in Finding No. 3 above, will be met by the Highway 267 Truckee Bypass Project.

3. Hereby grants an exception to the discharge prohibition, stated in Finding No. 3 above, for the Highway 267 Truckee Bypass Project.

The undersigned, Administrative Assistant to the Board, does hereby certify that the foregoing is a full, true, and correct copy of a resolution duly and regularly adopted at a meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board held on July 15, 1999.

/s/
Maureen Marché
Administrative Assistant to the Board