[Federal Register: June 18, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 117)]
[Notices]               
[Page 41417-41419]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18jn02-49]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7232-9]

 
Proposed Effluent Guidelines Program Plan for 2002/2003

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed Effluent Guidelines Program Plan; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: Today's notice presents and invites comment on EPA's proposed 
Effluent Guidelines Program Plan for 2002/2003. Under the Clean Water 
Act (CWA), EPA establishes national regulations, termed ``effluent 
guidelines,'' to reduce pollutant discharges from industrial facilities 
to surface waters and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The 
proposed Effluent Guidelines Program Plan describes the Agency's 
ongoing effluent guidelines development efforts.

DATES: EPA must receive comments on the proposed effluent guidelines 
plan by July 18, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to Ms. Patricia Harrigan at the 
following address: Office of Water, Engineering and Analysis Division 
(4303T), U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460. 
Comments submitted via hand delivery or Federal Express may be sent to 
the following address: U.S. EPA, EPA West, Room 6221, 1301 Constitution 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For additional information on how to 
submit comments, see ``How to Submit Comments'' in the Supplementary 
Information section of this notice.
    The public record for this proposed plan has been established under 
docket number W-01-12 and is located in EPA's Water Docket, East Tower 
Basement (Room EB 57), 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460. The 
record is available for inspection from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. For access to docket 
materials, call (202) 260-3027 to schedule an appointment. You may have 
to pay a reasonable fee for copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Harrigan at (202) 566-1666 or 
harrigan.patricia@epa.gov, or Jan Matuszko at (202) 566-1035 or 
matuszko.jan@epa.gov.

How To Submit Comments

    EPA encourages submission of comments using e-mail. Please send 
comments via e-mail to harrigan.patricia@epa.gov. Electronic comments 
must specify docket number W-01-12 and must be submitted as an ASCII, 
Word or WordPerfect file avoiding the use of special characters or any 
form of encryption. No confidential business information (CBI) should 
be sent via e-mail.
    If you elect to mail your comments, please send an original and 3 
copies of your comments and enclosures (including references). 
Commenters who want EPA to acknowledge receipt of their comments should 
enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. No facsimilies (faxes) will 
be accepted.

I. Regulated Entities

    Today's proposed Effluent Guidelines Program Plan for 2002/2003 
does not contain regulatory requirements. It identifies industrial 
categories for which EPA expects to develop or revise effluent 
limitations guidelines and standards and sets forth the schedules for 
those rulemakings. Entities that could be affected by regulations 
developed under this Plan, as proposed, are shown in Table 1 below.

             Table 1.--Entities Potentially Affected by Forthcoming Effluent Guidelines Regulations
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                   Category of entity                           Examples of potentially affected entities
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Industrial, Commercial, or Agricultural................  Metal Products and Machinery (including electroplating,
                                                          metal finishing); builders and developers engaged in
                                                          construction, development, and redevelopment; Feedlots
                                                          (swine, poultry, dairy and beef cattle); Aquatic
                                                          Animal Production (fish hatcheries and farms); and
                                                          Meat Products (slaughtering, rendering, packing,
                                                          processing of red meat and poultry); and Pulp and
                                                          Paper (dissolving mills).
Federal Government.....................................  Metal Products and Machinery (including electroplating,
                                                          metal finishing); builders and developers engaged in
                                                          construction, development, and redevelopment.
State Government.......................................  Metal Products and Machinery (including electroplating,
                                                          metal finishing); builders and developers engaged in
                                                          construction, development, and redevelopment.
Local Government.......................................  Metal Products and Machinery (including electroplating,
                                                          metal finishing); builders and developers engaged in
                                                          construction, development, and redevelopment.
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II. Legal Authority

    Today's notice is published under the authority of section 304(m) 
of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. 1314(m).

III. Effluent Guidelines Program Background

    The CWA directs EPA to promulgate effluent limitations guidelines 
and standards that, for most pollutants, reflect the level of pollutant 
control achievable by the best available technologies economically 
achievable for categories or subcategories of industrial point sources. 
See CWA sections 301(b)(2), 304(b), 306, 307(b), and 307(c). For point 
sources that introduce pollutants directly into the Nation's waters 
(i.e., direct dischargers), the limitations and standards promulgated 
by EPA are implemented in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 
System (NPDES) permits. See CWA sections 301(a), 301(b), and 402. For 
sources that discharge to POTWs (i.e., indirect dischargers), EPA 
promulgates pretreatment standards that apply directly to those sources 
and are enforced by POTWs backed by State and Federal authorities. See 
CWA sections 307(b) and (c).
    Section 304(m) requires EPA to publish a Plan every two years that 
consists of three elements. First, under section 304(m)(1)(A), EPA is 
required to establish a schedule for the annual review and revision of 
existing effluent guidelines in accordance with section 304(b). Section 
304(b) applies to effluent limitations guidelines for direct 
dischargers and requires EPA to revise such regulations as appropriate. 
Second,

[[Page 41418]]

under section 304(m)(1)(B), EPA must identify categories of sources 
discharging toxic or nonconventional pollutants for which EPA has not 
published effluent limitations guidelines under section 304(b)(2) or 
new source performance standards (NSPS) under section 306. Finally, 
under section 304(m)(1)(C), EPA must establish a schedule for the 
promulgation of effluent limitations guidelines under section 304(b)(2) 
and NSPS for the categories identified under subparagraph (B) not later 
than three years after being identified in the section 304(m) plan. 
Section 304(m) does not apply to pretreatment standards for indirect 
dischargers, which EPA promulgates pursuant to sections 307(b) and 
307(c) of the CWA.
    On October 30, 1989, Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., and 
Public Citizen, Inc., filed an action against EPA in which they 
alleged, among other things, that EPA had failed to comply with CWA 
section 304(m). Plaintiffs and EPA agreed to a settlement of that 
action in a Consent Decree entered on January 31, 1992. The consent 
decree, which has been modified several times, established a schedule 
by which EPA will propose and take final action for eleven point source 
categories identified by name in the decree, see Consent Decree, pars. 
2(a) and 4(a), and for eight other point source categories identified 
only as new or revised rules, numbered 5 through 12, see Consent Decree 
par. 5(a). The Decree also established deadlines for EPA to complete 
studies of eight identified and three unidentified point source 
categories. See Consent Decree, par. 3(a).
    The last date for EPA action under the Decree, as modified, is June 
2004. The Decree provides that the foregoing requirements shall be set 
forth in EPA's section 304(m) plans. See Consent Decree, pars. 3(a), 
4(a), 5(a). The Consent Decree provides that section 304(m) plans 
issued subsequent to the decree that are consistent with its terms 
shall satisfy EPA's obligations under section 304(m) with respect to 
the publication of such plans. See Consent Decree, par. 7(b).

IV. Proposed Effluent Guidelines Program Plan for 2002/2003

    Today's proposed Plan describes EPA's current effluent guidelines 
rulemaking activities. It is the last Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 
to be developed while EPA is operating under the 1992 Consent Decree 
described in Section III above.
    Table 2 identifies the new or revised effluent guidelines currently 
under development and the schedules for proposal and final action.

                            Table 2.--Effluent Guidelines Currently Under Development
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                                            Federal Register citation (date) or
                 Category                          deadline for proposal                 Final action date
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Metal Products and Machinery.............  66 FR 424 (Jan. 3, 2001).............  12/02
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations     66 FR 2959 (Jan. 12, 2001)...........  12/15/02
 (poultry, swine, beef, and dairy
 subcategories).
Meat Products............................  67 FR 8581 (Feb. 25, 2002)...........  12/03
Construction and Development.............  05/15/02.............................  03/04
Aquatic Animal Production................  08/02................................  06/04
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard (dissolving    58 FR 44078 (Dec. 17, 1993)..........  09/04
 kraft (Subpart A) and dissolving sulfite
 (Subpart D)).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In previous Effluent Guideline Plans, EPA had indicated its 
intention to take final action on its 1993 proposal to revise effluent 
guidelines for eight subcategories of the pulp, paper, and paperboard 
industry (Subparts C and F through L). At this time, however, EPA is 
not planning to revise effluent guidelines for these subcategories for 
a variety of reasons. For example, it appears that more stringent 
conventional pollutant limitations for these subcategories would not 
pass the Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology ``cost-
reasonableness'' test, which is explained at 51 FR 24974 (July 1986). 
In addition, EPA does not see the need at this time to promulgate 
national categorical best management practices to control spills and 
leaks of pulping liquors for these subcategories; permitting 
authorities can continue to impose best management practices on a case-
by-case basis, as appropriate, under 40 CFR 122.44(k). As with all 
currently regulated industries, EPA will make the decision to move 
forward with data collection and analysis for all of these subparts 
(including possible guidelines revisions) using a broader priority-
setting process the Agency is developing for its future effluent 
guidelines planning evaluations.

V. Future of the Effluent Guidelines Program

    For the past ten years, the 1992 Consent Decree has greatly 
influenced EPA's management of the effluent guidelines program and has 
required the Agency to develop or revise a specified number of effluent 
guidelines within specified schedules. June 2004 is the last Consent 
Decree deadline for taking final action on an effluent guideline 
started under the Decree. The 1992 Consent Decree will terminate when 
this obligation is satisfied.
    The termination of the Consent Decree offers EPA, interested 
stakeholders, and the public the chance to evaluate the existing 
program and to consider how national industrial regulations can best 
meet the needs of the broader National Clean Water Program in the years 
ahead. EPA is drafting a strategy setting forth a planning process by 
which EPA will conduct the review of national effluent guidelines and 
establish priorities to address the water quality challenges of the 
21st century.
    Integral to any planning process is the need to efficiently 
allocate scarce resources among competing priorities. This is 
particularly the case for a governmental agency such as EPA, which has 
the responsibility to assure that both public and private funds for 
regulatory compliance are spent to address the highest risks to human 
health and the environment. EPA also believes that its process for 
setting priorities must be completely transparent. In keeping with 
these goals, the draft strategy will describe how EPA will work with 
other interested parties to assess the risks posed by industrial 
discharges and to identify the best approach to address these risks 
(i.e., through effluent guidelines or other tools).
    EPA expects that development and implementation of this strategy 
will require a significant Agency investment in research, planning, and 
outreach. EPA plans to publish this draft strategy later this year, and 
will seek to engage a broad range of interested parties in a

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discussion on the draft strategy. EPA intends to first use the process 
described in the strategy as the basis for its 2004/2005 Effluent 
Guidelines Program Plan.

VI. Request for Comment

    EPA invites public comment on the proposed Effluent Guidelines 
Program Plan for 2002/2003 and on all other aspects of today's notice.

    Dated: June 11, 2002.
G. Tracy Mehan, III,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 02-15329 Filed 6-17-02; 8:45 am]
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