Existing Department rule governing delegation of the Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) program under Part IV of Chapter 373, F.S., to a county, municipality, or local pollution control program (local governments) are being amended to address changes made to Section 373.441, F.S., by Chapter 2010-147, Laws of Florida, effective July 1, 2010. Those amendments: (1) provide that the Department, and no longer a water management district, is the sole agency that can delegate ERP program responsibilities in whole or in part to a local government; (2) provide the process for a local government to petition the Governor and Cabinet for review of a request for a delegation that is not approved or denied within one year of being initiated; (3) require the Department to detail the statutory and rule provisions that were not met in any denial of a local government’s petition for delegation; and (4) require approval of a petition that meets the requirements of Chapter 62-344, F.A.C. Changes to each rule section of Chapter 62-344, F.A.C., are required to address the above. In addition, changes have been made regarding the content of the petition for delegation and the criteria for its review. Substantively, a local government implementing a delegated ERP will be limited to using the ERP rules of the Department and the applicable water management district, which must be adopted verbatim either within the body of the local government’s controlling regulations or by incorporating those rules by reference within their regulations. They will no longer be able to use rules, ordinances, or regulations adopted under the local government’s own regulatory program, which, at a minimum, incorporate directly or by reference, the relevant portions of the reviewing agency’s environmental resource permit program rules. However, the local government may continue to apply its stricter local standards that are not in conflict with Part IV of Chapter 373, F.S. In so doing, the local government will be required to act on the application or notice under Part IV of Chapter 373, F.S., together with any applicable stricter standards, within the time frames under Chapter 120, F.S., Part IV of Chapter 373, F.S., and the rules adopted thereunder, as applicable. These changes will simplify the evaluation of a requested delegation and will significantly improve consistency between the Department, water management districts, and delegated local government in implementing the ERP rules. This also will benefit the public by reducing differences between the rules that must be followed when designing projects, submitting applications, and going through the review process. At the request of some regulated interests, the Department also narrowed the types of activities that can be delegated to not allowing delegations for activities proposed by inland navigation districts or that occur within deepwater ports. This will ensure entities having activities spanning multiple jurisdictions and with broad financial implications will receive a more consistent review of their ERP applications by a single entity (typically the Department). The proposed rule does not substantively change the ability of a local government to petition for delegation of the ERP program, the required content of a petition, the criteria used in the review of the petition, or the criteria that will be used by the Department to approve or deny the petition. The proposed changes also do not increase costs to the regulated community, and in fact can be expected to reduce regulatory costs.