Notice2024-25219
Notice of Preliminary Designation of Certain Stormwater Discharges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Notice of Availability of Draft Permit Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System of the Clean Water Act
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Published
October 31, 2024
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 ("EPA") is providing notice of two proposed actions today. The first action is the Preliminary Designation of certain stormwater discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional properties with one acre or more of impervious surface in the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River watersheds in Massachusetts for regulation under the Clean Water Act's ("CWA") National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permitting program. Second, the Regional Administrator of the EPA Region 1 is concurrently providing notice of availability of a draft NPDES General Permit ("GP") for Private Commercial Industrial, and Institutional ("CII") Stormwater Discharges in the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River Watersheds in Massachusetts ("Draft CII GP"). The Draft CII GP would regulate the identified stormwater discharges, as it is authorized to do under section 402 of the CWA, by requiring the implementation of Best Management Practices ("BMPs") and meeting other limitations to meet water quality standards.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 211 (Thursday, October 31, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 211 (Thursday, October 31, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86802-86804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25219]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492; FRL-12374-01-R1]
Notice of Preliminary Designation of Certain Stormwater
Discharges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Notice of
Availability of Draft Permit Under the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System of the Clean Water Act
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency Region 1 (``EPA'') is providing notice of two proposed actions
today. The first action is the Preliminary Designation of certain
stormwater discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional
properties with one acre or more of impervious surface in the Charles,
Neponset, and Mystic River watersheds in Massachusetts for regulation
under the Clean Water Act's (``CWA'') National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (``NPDES'') permitting program. Second, the Regional
Administrator of the EPA Region 1 is concurrently providing notice of
availability of a draft NPDES General Permit (``GP'') for Private
Commercial Industrial, and Institutional (``CII'') Stormwater
Discharges in the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River Watersheds in
Massachusetts (``Draft CII GP''). The Draft CII GP would regulate the
identified stormwater discharges, as it is authorized to do under
section 402 of the CWA, by requiring the implementation of Best
Management Practices (``BMPs'') and meeting other limitations to meet
water quality standards.
[[Page 86803]]
DATES: Comments on the Preliminary Designation and the Draft CII GP may
be submitted as described in Section I.A of this notice. The public
notice period for both the Preliminary Designation and the Draft CII GP
will close January 29, 2025. EPA will hold virtual public meetings on
January 7, 2025, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and January 9, 2025, at 7 p.m.
Eastern Time. EPA will hold virtual public hearings on January 22,
2025, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and January 23, 2025, 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
Please refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for registration
instructions for the public meetings and hearings.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments on the Preliminary Designation and/or
the Draft CII GP, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492, by
any of the following methods:
--Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a> (our
preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
--Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2072110e726461604550410e474f56"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3f6d0e116d7b7e7f5a4f5e11585049">[email protected]</span></a>, and include ``Comments on the Preliminary
Designation and/or Draft CII GP'' in the subject line.
--Mail: U.S. EPA Region 1, Water Division, Attn: Laura Schifman, 5 Post
Office Square, Suite 100, Mail Code 06-4, Boston, Massachusetts 02109-
3912. If comments are submitted in hard copy form, please also email a
copy to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1341223d415752537663723d747c65"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93c1a2bdc1d7d2d3f6e3f2bdf4fce5">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Schifman, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Region 1, Water Division, Stormwater Permits Section;
telephone number: (617) 918-1015; email address:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9deefef5f4fbf0fcf3b3f1fce8effcddf8edfcb3faf2eb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="90e3f3f8f9f6fdf1febefcf1e5e2f1d0f5e0f1bef7ffe6">[email protected]</span></a>.
Administrative Record: The Preliminary Designation, the Draft CII
GP, and other related documents in the administrative record are on
file and may be inspected between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays, at the following address: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1 Regional Office, Water
Division, 5 Post Office Square, Boston, MA. Contact the person listed
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your
inspection.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Public Participation
A. Written Comments
Submit your comments as detailed in the ADDRESSES section. Do not
submit to EPA any information you consider to be Confidential Business
Information (``CBI''), Proprietary Business Information (``PBI''), or
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing
system).
B. Public Meetings and Public Hearings
EPA will begin pre-registering speakers for the hearings upon
publication of this document in the Federal Register. To register to
speak at the virtual hearing, please use the online registration form
available at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth">https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth</a>. The last day to
pre-register to speak at either the January 22 or 23, 2025 hearings is
January 16, 2025. On January 17, 2025, EPA will post a general agenda
for the hearing that will list pre-registered speakers in approximate
order at: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth">https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth</a>.
II. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
Entities included in the Preliminary Designation and eligible for
coverage under the Draft CII GP Permit include: commercial, industrial,
and institutional properties with one acre or more of impervious
surface in the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River watersheds in
Massachusetts. Commercial, industrial, and institutional properties are
identified by reference to Massachusetts Property Type Classification
Codes, identified in Draft CII GP Appendix H. The amount of impervious
cover on a parcel can be determined either by verifying EPA's
impervious cover data or by determining the amount of impervious cover
by a site plan or site survey, GIS analysis, or Google Earth. These
methods are described in Draft CII GP Appendix E.
B. Summary and Availability of Preliminary Designation Documents
The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 1 has made a Preliminary
Designation of stormwater discharges from certain commercial
industrial, and institutional properties with one acre or more of
impervious surface in the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River
watersheds in Massachusetts for regulation under the NPDES permitting
program pursuant to Clean Water Act sections 301, 402(p)(2)(E), and
402(p)(6) of the Clean Water Act and EPA's implementing regulations at
40 CFR 122.26(a)(9)(i)(C)-(D) and 122.44. Those provisions authorize
the Agency to regulate stormwater discharges that contribute to a water
quality standard violation or that are a significant contributor of
pollutants to waters of the United States, or where controls are needed
based on wasteload allocations that are part of total maximum daily
loads. This authority is often referred to as ``residual designation
authority'' or RDA. EPA is providing notice of its Preliminary
Designation for NPDES permitting of unregulated stormwater discharges
from certain commercial industrial, and institutional properties with
one acre or more of impervious surface in the Charles, Neponset, and
Mystic River watersheds in Massachusetts.
The Preliminary Designation plus supplementary information relating
to the Preliminary Designation are available on EPA Region 1's web page
at: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth">https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth</a> and at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>
by searching for Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492. This information
includes parcel analyses of the Neponset River watershed and the Mystic
River watershed, and an updated parcel analysis for the Charles River
watershed.
Please refer to EPA's website or this action's docket on
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> to review these materials and then follow the
directions above in this Notice for submitting any comments. Note that
stakeholders may submit comments on the Preliminary Designation to EPA
until the end of the comment period and on the EPA NPDES general permit
for these discharges. See 40 CFR 124.52(c). In this case, the public
notice periods for the Preliminary Designation and Draft CII GP are
simultaneous and will run for 90 days from the Federal Register
publication of this Notice. Commenters may submit comments on the
Preliminary Designation, the Draft CII GP, or on both actions.
C. Summary and Availability of Draft CII GP Documents
The Draft CII General Permit, appendices, and fact sheet are
available at: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth">https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth</a> and at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> by searching for Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-
0492.
[[Page 86804]]
This Draft CII General Permit is established pursuant to CWA
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E), and 402(p)(6).
1. Technology-Based Requirements
This Draft CII General Permit would be available to authorize
certain stormwater discharges, as it is authorized to do under CWA
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E) and 402(p)(6), by requiring the
implementation of BMPs. The Draft CII Permit regulates Phosphorus, a
non-conventional pollutant, as an indicator parameter for all regulated
pollutants. As provided in section 402(a)(1) of the CWA, EPA
established Technology-Based Effluent Limitations (TBELs) in this Draft
Permit utilizing Best Professional Judgment (BPJ) to meet the ``best
available technology economically achievable'' (BAT), ``best
conventional pollutant control technology'' (BCT), and ``best
practicable control technology currently available'' (BPT) standards
described in section 304(b) of the CWA. TBELs in this Draft Permit are
expressed as requirements for implementation of effective best
management practices (BMPs). 40 CFR 122.44(k). Section 2.1.1 of the
Draft CII GP requires all Permittees to develop and implement
Stormwater Pollution Control Plans (SPCPs). The minimum BMPs specified
in this CII GP represent common practices that can be implemented by
most CII facilities. Dischargers have flexibility in designing their
SPCP in accordance with Section 2.2 of this Draft CII GP.
2. Water-Quality Based Requirements
Based on its scientific and technical judgment, EPA has determined
that the following reductions of Phosphorus, as an indicator pollutant,
from CII sites are necessary to meet water quality standards: Charles
River watershed, 65%; Mystic River watershed, 62%; Neponset River
watershed, 60%. Permittees' development and implementation of SPCPs
constitutes compliance with the Water-Quality Based Effluent
Limitations (WQBELs) contained in this Draft CII GP, including the
aforementioned reductions of Phosphorus.
D. Provisions on Which EPA Is Soliciting Comment
While EPA encourages the public to review and comment on all
provisions in the Preliminary Determination and the Draft CII GP, EPA
has included in the body of the Draft CII GP Fact Sheet several
proposed provisions on which EPA specifically requests feedback. The
following list summarizes these specific requests for comment, and
where they are included in the fact sheet. EPA notes that these are
only summaries of the requests for comment. The Agency recommends that
the public see the specific wording of each comment request within the
body of the fact sheet.
1. Multifamily housing/tax codes (Fact Sheet Sec. 1.5): EPA is
seeking comment on whether to include Multi-Family Residential
Properties in the final designation and in the final CII GP.
2. Compliance schedule (Fact Sheet Sec. 5.1.1): EPA is seeking
comment on whether the proposed compliance schedule is appropriate.
3. Multiple non-contiguous properties (Fact Sheet Sec. 1.4): EPA
is seeking comment on how the permitting process should work for owners
with multiple non-contiguous properties that are subject to the CII GP.
4. Owner-operator (Fact Sheet Sec. 1.4): EPA is seeking comment on
whether EPA should regulate the operator with control over a site
instead of the owner, including sites where multiple operators may be
tenants of a site (e.g., a shopping plaza with one owner and multiple
tenants).
5. Contiguous properties (Fact Sheet Sec. 1.4): EPA is seeking
comment on its regulation of contiguous sites, which reflect EPAs
interest in consolidating, to the greatest extent possible,
responsibility for permit compliance.
6. Historic Properties (Fact Sheet Sec. 9.3): EPA is seeking
comment on the Draft CII GP's potential impact on historic properties.
E. Procedures for Reaching a Final Designation and Final Permit
Decision
After the comment period closes, EPA intends to issue a final
permit and final RDA determination. EPA will consider all significant
comments and make appropriate changes before issuing this permit. EPA's
responses to public comments received will be included in the docket as
part of the final permit issuance. Once the final permit becomes
effective, eligible dischargers may seek authorization.
Authority: This action is being taken pursuant to Clean Water Act
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E), and 402(p)(6).
Dated: October 24, 2024.
David W. Cash,
Administrator, EPA Region 1, Boston, MA.
[FR Doc. 2024-25219 Filed 10-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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