NOTICES
Proposed Revision to Pennsylvania General NPDES Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activities (PAG-3)
[34 Pa.B. 755] Under The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. §§ 691.1--691.101) and sections 1905-A, 1917-A and 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. §§ 510-5, 510-17 and 510-20), the Department of Environmental Protection (Department) seeks public comments on the proposed revisions to the Department's NPDES Stormwater General Permit for Discharges of Stormwater Associated with Industrial Activities (PAG-3), including the Notice of Intent (NOI) and other related permit documents. The current General Permit will expire June 4, 2004.
The proposal contains the Department's revisions to the existing General Permit that was first issued in 1992. The revisions are necessary to reflect changes in State and Federal regulations, and are based on the Department's program implementation experiences, comments from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) evaluation of the State's Phase I program and additional EPA guidance on the regulation of stormwater discharges from industrial activities. The revised permit sets forth the effluent limitations and other terms and conditions of the permit.
This General Permit will continue to not be applicable for stormwater discharges to ''high quality'' and ''exceptional value'' waters designated under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93 (relating to water quality standards). An individual permit is required for discharges to these waters.
The Department will continue to use Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes, per the EPA's guidance, to define the categories of industrial activities covered by this permit.
This notice provides the public and all affected parties with a summary of changes being proposed to the General Permit.
The following paragraphs summarize proposed major revisions to the General Permit:
1. General edit/update--The revisions provide a general edit/update of the permit to correct any typographical errors or other inaccuracies in the current permit and to bring the document to current Department publication standards.
2. Identification and inclusion of industrial category-specific Best Management Practices (BMP)--The permit includes several general and industry specific BMPs. The inclusion of BMPs was based upon the Department's experience of the implementation of the Phase I program and the EPA's Multi-Sector General Permit or its stormwater BMP Manual. The permit identifies industry specific BMPs for each of the industrial activities covered in the General Permit.
3. Authorizations under the previous PAG-3--Authorizations under the previous PAG-3 replaced by this General Permit are automatically continued under this General Permit for the remaining duration of the previously approved coverage. If the permittee is unable to comply with this General Permit, the permittee must submit an application for an individual NPDES permit within 90 days of publication of this final General Permit.
4. Airports category (Appendix G covered facilities)--The permit splits the airports category into two separate categories (large and small airports) based on the usage of deicing chemicals. Appendix G is split into two categories. Appendix G.1 deals with large airports and Appendix G.2 deals with small airports. For the purposes of the General Permit, large airports are those that use more than 100,000 gallons of glycol or 100 tons of urea each year and small airports are those that use less than 100,000 gallons of glycol or 100 tons of urea per year.
The permit requires large airports to conduct biannual sampling and reporting of the Appendix G.1 parameters during the winter season. Small airports will continue to perform annual sampling and reporting of the Appendix G.2 parameters during the winter season. Implementation of specific BMPs designed to reduce or minimize the discharge of pollutants through stormwater and updating of their Preparedness, Prevention and Contingency (PPC) plans is required for both airport categories.
5. Coal storage pile runoff (Appendix E)--The permit clarifies requirements for stormwater discharges from coal storage piles. This permit covers coal storage piles other than those located on the site of a ''coal mining activity'' as defined in 25 Pa. Code § 86.1 (relating to definitions), in which case the effluent limit which has been established under 25 Pa. Code Chapters 86--90 is applicable. The following are the applicable effluent limits for eligible discharges from coal storage piles.
Discharge Parameter Units Effluent Limits
MinimumMaximum Sample Type Measurement
FrequencypH S.U. 6.0 9.0 1 Grab 1/6 months Total Suspended Solids mg/L 50 1 Grab 1/6 months
6. Stormwater discharges from salt storage and distribution piles and petroleum marketing terminals--In addition to the ten industrial categories of discharges covered under the existing permit defined in EPA regulations, the Department is proposing to authorize use of this General Permit to provide coverage for stormwater discharges from selected salt storage and distribution piles and all petroleum marketing terminals. The monitoring and specific BMPs required for stormwater discharges from salt storage and distribution piles and petroleum marketing terminals are included in Appendices K and L, respectively, of the permit.
7. Coverage under the General Permit and permit expiration date--Approval for coverage under the existing permit is extended beyond the permit expiration date. A permit condition concerning issuance, reissuance or amendment of the General Permit has been added. This condition makes the permittee responsible for complying with the final renewed, reissued or amended General Permit. If the permittee is unable to comply with this General Permit, the permittee must submit an application for an individual NPDES permit within 90 days of publication of this final General Permit.
8. Clarification of Professional Engineer (P. E.) certification requirement-- A PPC plan is required for all facilities covered under this permit. The revised permit clarifies that, except for SARA Title III facilities discharging water priority chemicals, a PPC plan does not have to be prepared or certified by a P. E. A similar change has also been made to update the Department's PPC plan guidance document ''Guidelines for Development and Implementation of Environmental Emergency Response Plans,'' DEP ID: 400-2200-001, available on the Department's website at www.dep.state.pa.us (DEP Keyword: Participate).
9. Revisions to the NOI form--The NOI form revisions include some of the information previously required in the General Information Form (GIF). Submission of a GIF is not required for this General Permit. NOI instructions have been revised to reflect this change.
10. Deletion of Act 14 compliance requirement--The NOI instructions are revised to reflect a change in the Act 14 municipal notification requirement. This requirement has been deleted. This is consistent with the legal interpretation that the Act 14 requirements do not apply to general NPDES permits.
11. SARA Title III Section 313 facilities--The NOI form revisions clarify that the reporting requirements related to SARA Title III Section 313 facilities referred to in the NOI deal with only water discharges. Air and solid waste releases do not apply.
12. Prior compliance history--The NOI form revisions require information concerning prior compliance history for the facility for which coverage under the General Permit is requested. NOI instructions have been revised to reflect this change.
13. Annual inspection form--Minor revisions to this form and associated instructions have been made. This form, which is currently available for use by Appendix J facilities instead of monitoring, was developed after the publication of the original General Permit to facilitate consistent and uniform self-inspections and data reporting. This form has been in use since June 25, 1998.
14. Sampling/monitoring data or self-inspection reports--The revised permit requires submission of all sampling/monitoring data and annual inspection reports within 30 days of the dates they are required to be completed in the permit. A summary and evaluation of the information must also be submitted with permit coverage renewal applications. This is a change from the current permit requirement that allowed many industrial categories to keep data/reports onsite or submit them only when requested by the Department.
15. Implementation of no exposure provision under stormwater Phase II rule--NOI instructions have been revised to explain the procedure to be followed in seeking permit exemption allowed under this rule. The Department has developed a no exposure form and associated instructions and are made part of this application package.
The proposed permit document package is available by contacting the Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Supply and Wastewater Management, P. O. Box 8467, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8467, (717) 783-3795, trutroutma@state.pa.us. The proposed permit document package is also available on the Department's website at www.dep.state.pa.us (DEP Keyword: Participate).
The Department, by this notice, invites public comments on the proposed revisions to PAG-3, including the NOI, and other related permit documents. Comments must be submitted to the Department by March 8, 2004. If there is significant public interest in the revised General Permit or if requested, the comment period may be extended at the discretion of the Department for an additional 15-day period. Only the comments received within the specified comment period will be considered in the formulation of the final documents for this General Permit. Persons wishing to comment should include their name, address and telephone number and a concise comment statement to inform the Department of the exact basis of the comment and the relevant facts upon which it is based. If significant issues of public interest are raised, the Department may schedule a public meeting. Written comments should be submitted at the previous address. Comments will also be accepted by e-mail and should be sent to Parimal Parikh at pparikh@state.pa.us by March 8, 2004. Comments will not be accepted by facsimile or on voice mail.
Persons with a disability may use the AT&T Relay Service by calling (800) 654-5984 (TDD users) or (800) 654-5988 (voice users). Following the specified comment period, the Department will review all submitted comments, prepare a written comments and response document (CRD) and prepare all final documents for this permit. An availability notice of the final permit documents, including the CRD, will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
KATHLEEN A. MCGINTY,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 04-214. Filed for public inspection February 6, 2004, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
