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Committee hears bill to add 'yard waste' to water‑pollution law to curb lake nutrient runoff
Summary
Sponsors and lake advocates told the Senate committee that adding 'yard waste' to chapter 45‑A would clarify that leaves, grass clippings and similar debris cannot be dumped into lakes and streams; the Department of Environmental Services said existing law covers the conduct but supported clarification and educational enforcement.
Representatives, lake associations and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that expressly listing "yard waste" in the state water‑pollution statute would help lake associations educate residents and reduce nutrient inputs that can fuel cyanobacteria blooms.
Representative Rung, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the committee that much of the proposal is an educational clarifying change to chapter 45‑A (water pollution and waste disposal). "One of the most important strategies for mitigating cyanobacteria blooms is to keep nutrients out of lakes," Rung said, describing a practice in some lakeside neighborhoods of blowing leaves and yard debris directly into surface waters. Rung said the amendment inserts "yard waste" into the chapter’s existing definition of litter so that outreach materials can tell residents explicitly that dumping yard waste is against the law.
Andrea, president of New Hampshire Lakes, said lake associations support the bill and that explicitly naming yard waste would help outreach to residents who do not realize grass clippings and leaves add phosphorus and nitrogen to lakes.
Ted Diers, assistant director of the DES water division, told the committee that DES believes much of the conduct is already covered by the existing statute (which lists "trees or parts thereof, or similar litter") but that explicit language could be useful because the current wording may not be obvious to the public. Diers outlined three components of the original bill: (1) explicitly call out yard waste, (2) identify fines, and (3) provide municipalities enforcement authority. He described DES’s typical enforcement approach as primarily educational and said that minor, inadvertent leaffall would generally be handled through outreach rather than penalties.
Committee members raised concerns about mens rea and penalties. Senators questioned why the bill’s language struck the word "purposely" in one place while retaining standards such as "purposely or recklessly" and using "knowingly" in another; witnesses agreed to check legal language because criminal penalties and interpretation depend on those terms. The transcript records that the bill had amendments recommended in the House criminal justice committee and that the sponsor acknowledged DES had proposed technical language.
No committee vote to advance HB 416 was taken during the hearing; the chair closed the hearing and said the committee would not act that day.
