NOTICES
Public Notice of the Availability of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for Discharges to Waters of the Commonwealth from Aquatic Animal Production Facilities (PAG-11)
[42 Pa.B. 6347]
[Saturday, October 6, 2012]Under The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. §§ 691.1—691.1001) 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), by this notice, informs the public of the availability of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit for Discharges to Waters of this Commonwealth from Aquatic Animal Production Facilities (PAG-11). The General Permit will become effective at 12 a.m. on October 6, 2012.
This General Permit is intended to provide coverage under the Clean Water Act to Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production (CAAP) facilities, which are required by 40 CFR 122.24(a) (relating to concentrated aquatic animal production facilities (applicable to State NPDES programs, see § 123.25)) to have NPDES permit coverage if the facilities discharge to surface waters. Other non-CAAP facilities may be eligible for coverage under the General Permit if required to obtain permit coverage under The Clean Streams Law for the discharge of pollutants to waters of this Commonwealth.
Notice of the availability of a draft PAG-11 General Permit was published at 42 Pa.B. 2249 (April 21, 2012). A 30-day comment period was provided for as part of the April 21, 2012, draft permit publication. Public comments were received from three individuals. A Comment/Response Document has been prepared and is available on the Department's web site. The Notice of Intent fee for coverage under this General Permit is $100.
This General Permit, as finalized, has been modified in comparison to the draft permit in the following significant ways:
• Two new eligibility criteria have been added for the General Permit in response to comments from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In addition to the eligibility criteria in the draft PAG-11 General Permit, facilities will not be eligible for permit coverage if they: (1) discharge to waters with an EPA-approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and the permit coverage would be inconsistent with the assumptions of the TMDL; or (2) are a new facility or an existing facility with new discharges to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, in which specific limitations for Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus will be required in an individual NPDES permit.
• Quarterly monitoring on an ''as-used'' basis for Formaldehyde has been eliminated and has been replaced with quarterly monitoring for Total Phosphorus to address an EPA comment.
The permit document package will be available at the Department's central and regional offices, and can also be accessed through the Department's web site at www.dep.state.pa.us, select ''Licensing, Permits and Certification,'' then ''Program-Specific Permit/Authorization Packages,'' then ''Water Management,'' then ''NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System),'' then ''General Permits,'' then navigate to the folder for the PAG-11 General Permit.
A notice will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for approvals of coverage only (see 25 Pa. Code § 92a.84(c)(3) (relating to public notice of general permits)).
MICHAEL L. KRANCER,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 12-1959. Filed for public inspection October 5, 2012, 9:00 a.m.]
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