[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 21]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR125.89]



[Page 344-345]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)

 

PART 125_CRITERIA AND STANDARDS FOR THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE 

ELIMINATION SYSTEM--Table of Contents

 

Subpart I_Requirements Applicable to Cooling Water Intake Structures for 

             New Facilities Under Section 316(b) of the Act

 

Sec.  125.89  As the Director, what must I do to comply with the 

requirements of this subpart?



    (a) Permit application. As the Director, you must review materials 

submitted by the applicant under 40 CFR 122.21(r)(3) and Sec.  125.86 at 

the time of the initial permit application and before each permit 

renewal or reissuance.

    (1) After receiving the initial permit application from the owner or 

operator of a new facility, the Director must determine applicable 

standards in Sec.  125.84 to apply to the new facility. In addition, the 

Director must review materials to determine compliance with the 

applicable standards.

    (2) For each subsequent permit renewal, the Director must review the 

application materials and monitoring data to determine whether 

requirements, or additional requirements, for design and construction 

technologies or operational measures should be included in the permit.

    (3) For Track II facilities, the Director may review the information 

collection proposal plan required by Sec.  125.86(c)(2)(iii). The 

facility may initiate sampling and data collection activities prior to 

receiving comment from the Director.

    (b) Permitting requirements. Section 316(b) requirements are 

implemented for a facility through an NPDES permit. As the Director, you 

must determine, based on the information submitted by the new facility 

in its permit application, the appropriate requirements and conditions 

to include in the permit based on the track (Track I or Track II) the 

new facility has chosen to comply with. The following requirements must 

be included in each permit:

    (1) Cooling water intake structure requirements. At a minimum, the 

permit conditions must include the performance standards that implement 

the requirements of Sec.  125.84(b)(1), (2), (3), (4) and (5); Sec.  

125.84(c)(1), (2), (3) and (4); or Sec.  125.84(d)(1) and (2). In 

determining compliance with proportional flow requirement in Sec. Sec.  

125.84(b)(3)(ii); (c)(2)(ii); and (d)(2)(ii), the director must consider 

anthropogenic factors (those not considered ``natural'') unrelated to 

the new facility's cooling water intake structure that can influence the 

occurrence and location of a thermocline. These include source water 

inflows, other water withdrawals, managed water uses, wastewater 

discharges, and flow/level management practices (e.g., some reservoirs 

release water from below the surface, close to the deepest areas).

    (i) For a facility that chooses Track I, you must review the Design 

and Construction Technology Plan required in Sec.  125.86(b)(4) to 

evaluate the suitability



[[Page 345]]



and feasibility of the technology proposed to minimize impingement 

mortality and entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish. In 

the first permit issued, you must put a condition requiring the facility 

to reduce impingement mortality and entrainment commensurate with the 

implementation of the technologies in the permit. Under subsequent 

permits, the Director must review the performance of the technologies 

implemented and require additional or different design and construction 

technologies, if needed to minimize impingement mortality and 

entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish. In addition, you 

must consider whether more stringent conditions are reasonably necessary 

in accordance with Sec.  125.84(e).

    (ii) For a facility that chooses Track II, you must review the 

information submitted with the Comprehensive Demonstration Study 

information required in Sec.  125.86(c)(2), evaluate the suitability of 

the proposed design and construction technologies and operational 

measures to determine whether they will reduce both impingement 

mortality and entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish to 90 

percent or greater of the reduction that could be achieved through Track 

I. If you determine that restoration measures are appropriate at the new 

facility for consideration of impacts other than impingement mortality 

and entrainment, you must review the Evaluation of Proposed Restoration 

Measures and evaluate whether the proposed measures will maintain the 

fish and shellfish in the waterbody at a substantially similar level to 

that which would be achieved through Sec.  125.84(b)(1) and (2). In 

addition, you must review the Verification Monitoring Plan in Sec.  

125.86(c)(2)(iv)(D) and require that the proposed monitoring begin at 

the start of operations of the cooling water intake structure and 

continue for a sufficient period of time to demonstrate that the 

technologies, operational measures and restoration measures meet the 

requirements in Sec.  125.84(d)(1). Under subsequent permits, the 

Director must review the performance of the additional and /or different 

technologies or measures used and determine that they reduce the level 

of adverse environmental impact from the cooling water intake structures 

to a comparable level that the facility would achieve were it to 

implement the requirements of Sec.  125.84(b)(1) and (2).

    (2) Monitoring conditions. At a minimum, the permit must require the 

permittee to perform the monitoring required in Sec.  125.87. You may 

modify the monitoring program when the permit is reissued and during the 

term of the permit based on changes in physical or biological conditions 

in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure. The Director may 

require continued monitoring based on the results of the Verification 

Monitoring Plan in Sec.  125.86(c)(2)(iv)(D).

    (3) Record keeping and reporting. At a minimum, the permit must 

require the permittee to report and keep records as required by Sec.  

125.88.



[66 FR 65338, Dec. 18, 2001]