[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 237 (Friday, December 10, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76984-76985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31088]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0055; FRL-9233-9]
Notice Regarding National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES); General Permit for Discharges Incidental to the Normal
Operation of a Vessel
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: EPA announced the final NPDES general permit for discharges
incidental to the normal operation of vessels, also referred to as the
Vessel General Permit (VGP), in the Federal Register on December 29,
2008 (73 FR 79473). The permit was finalized on December 18, 2008 and
became effective on February 6, 2009. EPA noticed final issuance of the
VGP for the states of Hawaii and Alaska, after receipt of a
certification pursuant to section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) from
Hawaii and a final response on the national consistency determination
required by section 307(c)(1) of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA)
from Alaska, which was signed on February 2, 2009, with an effective
date of February 6, 2009. On March 11, 2009, a notice of availability
in the Federal Register provided notice of EPA's deletion of State
section 401 certification conditions from the VGP for the States of New
Jersey, Illinois, and California (74 FR 10573). Today's notice of
availability provides notice of EPA's deletion of specific State
section 401 certification conditions from Part 6 of the VGP for the
States of Pennsylvania and Iowa.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the final
vessel NPDES general permit, contact Robin Danesi at EPA Headquarters,
Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management, Mail Code 4203M, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; or at tel. 202-564-1846;
or Juhi Saxena at EPA Headquarters, Office of Water, Office of
Wastewater Management, Mail Code 4203M, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; or at tel. 202-564-0719; or e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. General Information
Pursuant to Clean Water Act section 401(a) and EPA's implementing
regulations, EPA may not issue a NPDES permit (including the VGP) until
the appropriate State certifications have been granted or waived. 40
CFR 124.53(a). Through the certification process, States were given the
opportunity, before the VGP was issued, to add conditions to the permit
they believe are necessary to ensure that the permit complies with the
Clean Water Act and other appropriate requirements of State law,
including State water quality standards.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued its
section 401 certification for the VGP on December 12, 2008, and
modified its certification on October 1, 2010. This modification
deleted certification conditions 1, 2, and 3. Iowa Department of
Natural Resources issued its section 401 certification for the VGP on
August 8, 2008, and modified its certification on July 8, 2009. This
modification deleted certification conditions 3 and 11. Pursuant to
EPA's implementing regulations at 40 CFR 124.55(b), EPA may, at the
request of a permittee, modify the VGP based on a modified
certification received after final agency action on the permit ``only
to the extent necessary to delete any conditions based on a condition
in a certification invalidated by a court of competent jurisdiction or
by an appropriate State board or agency.'' 40 CFR 124.55(b). In
accordance with this provision, EPA has removed these deleted
certification conditions from the VGP.\1\ EPA's letters notifying the
requesting permittees that their requests to delete the permit
conditions were granted, and a copy of the VGP reflecting those
deletions, can be found in the docket for the VGP (Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OW-2008-0055).\2\
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\1\ In order for EPA to remove these deleted conditions from the
VGP, the regulations at 40 CFR 124.55(b) also require that EPA
receive a request from a permittee asking that the deleted State
certification conditions be removed from the permit. EPA received
such requests to remove deleted conditions from The Vane Brothers
Company in Pennsylvania on November 24, 2009 and from Alter Barge
Line, Inc. in Iowa on December 31, 2009.
\2\ In addition, the permit may be found at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/vessels.
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B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related
information?
1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this
action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0055. The official public
docket is the collection of materials, including the administrative
record, for the final permit, required by 40 CFR 124.18. It is
available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. Although all documents in the docket are listed
in an index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Publicly
available docket materials are available electronically through http://www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center Public
Reading Room, open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading
Room is (202) 566-1744 and the telephone number for the Water Docket is
(202) 566-2426.
2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register''
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. An electronic version of the
public docket is available through the Federal Docket Management System
(FDMS) found at http://www.regulations.gov. You may use the FDMS to
view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public
docket that are available electronically. Once at the Web site, enter
the appropriate Docket ID No. in the ``Search'' box to view the docket.
Certain types of information will not be placed in the EPA dockets.
Information claimed as CBI and other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute, which is not included in the official public
docket, will not be available for public viewing in EPA's electronic
public docket. EPA policy is that copyrighted material will not be
placed in EPA's electronic public docket but will be available only in
printed, paper form in the official public docket. Although not all
docket materials may be available electronically, you may still access
any of the publicly available docket materials through the docket
facility identified in Section B.1.
Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
[[Page 76985]]
Dated: November 17, 2010.
Jon M. Capacasa,
Director, Water Protection Division, EPA Region 3.
Dated: November 17, 2010.
Karen Flournoy,
Acting Director, Water, Wetlands, and Pesticides Division, EPA Region
7.
[FR Doc. 2010-31088 Filed 12-9-10; 8:45 am]
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