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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 00-566

STATEMENTS OF POLICY

ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY BOARD

[25 PA. CODE CH. 23]

Processing Petitions

[30 Pa.B. 1766]

   The Environmental Quality Board (Board) is soliciting public comments on proposed revisions to its policy for processing petitions. The policy is being amended to clarify a number of sections, particularly with respect to petitions for the redesignation of streams under Chapter 93 (relating to water quality standards) of the Depart-ment of Environmental Protection's (Department) regulations and The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. §§ 691.1--691.1001).

Summary of the Amendments

§ 23.1.  Petitions.

   This section is amended to clarify the information that petitioners must submit to meet the completeness requirements of the policy. Paragraph (5) contains the data submission requirements necessary for stream redesignation petitions. These requirements more closely reflect the provisions of the antidegradation regulations in 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93. Adding this information in § 23.1 negates the need for Appendix A, which has been deleted. In addition, the text of § 23.9 (relating to special procedures) is updated and relocated as new subsection (b).

§ 23.3.  Notification.

   Section 23.3 has been revised to clarify that the Department's determination that a petition is inappropriate for submittal to the Board is based on the petition not meeting each of the three conditions in § 23.2 (relating to Departmental review).

§ 23.6.  Notice of acceptance and Department report.

   This section adds language pertaining to the Department's responsibility to publish notice of acceptance of a petition in the Pennsylvania Bulletin within 30 days from the date of acceptance by the Board. Paragraph (1) clarifies the steps the Department will take in preparing an evaluation report for those petitions that are not stream petitions, and it maintains the 60-day time period for preparation of the report. Paragraph (2) is new and applies to stream redesignation petitions. It indicates that the Department will publish notice of its intent to assess the waters subject to the evaluation before a draft evaluation report is prepared. There is no time requirement for preparation of a draft evaluation report because the period of assessment for each stream will vary depending upon the amount of data that will need to be collected.

§ 23.8.  Board consideration.

   Section 23.8 clarifies that the Department will prepare a recommendation based on its report and any comments received from the petitioner following the petitioner's 30-day review opportunity on the report. The section further clarifies that the recommendation will be in the form of a proposed rulemaking if a change to a regulation is recommended. The proposed rulemaking is to be developed for Board consideration within 6 months from the date the report was mailed to the petitioner. If no change to a regulation is recommended, the Department will present its recommendation to the Board at the first meeting that is held at least 45 days after the Department has mailed its report to the petitioner.

Copies of the Proposal

   For further information or copies of the proposed amendments, contact from Sharon K. Freeman, Regulatory Coordinator, Environmental Quality Board, P. O. Box 8477, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8477 (express mail: Rachel Carson State Office Building, 15th Floor, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101-2301), (717) 787-4526. Persons with a disability may use the AT&T Relay Service by calling (800) 654-5984 (TDD users) or (800) 654-5988 (voice users) and request that the call be relayed. The proposal is available electronically through the Department's website http://www.dep.state.pa.us.

Public Comments

   Comments, suggestions or objections regarding the proposed amendments may be sent to Sharon Freeman at the previously-noted address or electronically at RegComments@dep.state.pa.us. A subject heading of the proposal and return name and address should be included in each transmission. If an acknowledgment of the comments is not received by the sender within 2 days, the comments should be resubmitted to ensure receipt. Com-ments must be received by May 1, 2000. Comments submitted by facsimile will not be accepted.

JAMES M. SEIF,   
Chairperson

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 00-566. Filed for public inspection March 31, 2000, 9:00 a.m.]


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