A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide that a water withdrawal to provide cooling for electrical power generation is not a transfer regulated under the state interbasin transfer laws and to appropriate funds to update the basinwide water quality management plans for the appropriate river basins.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑215.22G(3) reads as rewritten:
"(3)	"Transfer" means the withdrawal, diversion, or pumping of surface water from one river basin and discharge of all or any part of the water in a river basin different from the origin. However, notwithstanding the basin definitions in G.S. 143‑215.22G(1), the following are not transfers under this Part:
a.	The discharge of water upstream from the point where it is withdrawn.
b.	The discharge of water downstream from the point where it is withdrawn.
c.	The withdrawal of water that is solely for cooling purposes for electrical power generation."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for the 2002‑2003 fiscal year to assist with the cost of updating the basinwide water quality management plans for the appropriate river basins.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2002.