[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23285-23286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11258]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6004-6]


Notice of Proposed Revisions to Approved Programs To Administer 
the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permitting Program 
in Illinois and Minnesota Resulting in Part From Adoption of the Water 
Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) has received for review and approval revisions to the 
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) programs in 
Illinois and Minnesota. Most of the proposed revisions were adopted to 
comply with section 118(c) of the Clean Water Act and 40 CFR 132.4, 
although in some cases, the State has also proposed revisions that are 
not related to those required by section 118(c) of the CWA and 40 CFR 
132.4. EPA invites public comment on whether EPA should approve these 
revisions pursuant to 40 CFR 123.62 and 132.5.

DATES: Comments on whether EPA should approve the revisions to 
Illinois' and Minnesota's NPDES programs must be received in writing by 
May 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on these documents may be submitted to Jo 
Lynn Traub, Director, Water Division, Attn: GLI Implementation 
Procedures, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604-3590. In the alternative, EPA will 
accept comments electronically. Comments should be sent to the 
following Internet E-mail address: [email protected]. 
Electronic comments must be submitted in an ASCII file avoiding the use 
of special characters and any form of encryption. EPA will print 
electronic comments in hard-copy paper form for the official 
administrative record. EPA will attempt to clarify electronic comments 
if there is an apparent error in transmission. Comments provided 
electronically will be considered timely if they are submitted 
electronically by 11:59 p.m. (Central Daylight Saving time) May 28, 
1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mery Jackson-Willis, Standards and 
Applied Sciences Branch, Water Division, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604-
3590, or telephone her at (312) 886-3717.
    Copies of the rules adopted by the States, and other related 
materials submitted by the States in support of these revisions, are 
available for review at: EPA, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 15th 
Floor, Chicago, Illinois; Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 
Library, 1021 North Grand Avenue East, Springfield, Illinois; Minnesota 
Pollution Control Agency, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, 
Minnesota. To access the docket material in Chicago, call (312)886-3717 
between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (Central Daylight Saving Time) (Monday-
Friday); in Illinois, call (217) 782-9691; and in Minnesota, call (612) 
296-7398.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 23, 1995, EPA published the Final 
Water Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System (Guidance) pursuant 
to section 118(c)(2) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1268(c)(2). 
(March 23, 1995, 60 FR 15366). The Guidance, which was codified at 40 
CFR Part 132, requires the Great Lakes States to adopt and submit to 
EPA for approval, water quality criteria, methodologies, policies and 
procedures that are consistent with the Guidance. 40 CFR 132.4 & 132.5. 
EPA is required to approve of the State's submission within 90 days or 
notify the State that EPA has determined that all or part of the 
submission is inconsistent with the Clean Water Act or the Guidance and 
identify any necessary changes to obtain EPA approval. If the State 
fails to make the necessary changes within 90 days, EPA must publish a 
notice in the Federal Register identifying the approved and disapproved 
elements of the submission and a final rule identifying the provisions 
of Part 132 that shall apply for discharges within the State.
    On February 13 and 20, 1998, EPA Region 5 received submissions from 
Minnesota and Illinois, respectively. The bulk of these submissions 
consist of new, revised or existing water quality standards which EPA 
is reviewing for consistency with the Guidance in accordance with 40 
CFR 131 and 132.5. EPA is not soliciting comment on those portions of 
these submissions relating to the water quality criteria and 
methodologies, use designations or antidegradation. EPA also is not 
soliciting comment on the Guidance itself.
    Instead, EPA is only requesting comment on whether it should 
approve, pursuant to 40 CFR 123.62, and 132.5(g), those portions of 
these submissions that revise the States' approved National Pollutant 
Discharge

[[Page 23286]]

Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. In most cases these 
revisions relate to the following provisions of 40 CFR part 132, 
Appendix F: Procedure 3 (``Total Maximum Daily Loads, Wasteload 
Allocations for Point Sources, Load Allocations for Nonpoint Sources, 
Wasteload Allocations in the Absence of a TMDL, and Preliminary 
Wasteload Allocations for Purposes of Determining the Need for Water 
Quality Based Effluent Limits''); Procedure 4 (``Additivity''); 
Procedure 5 (``Reasonable Potential''); Procedure 6 (Whole Effluent 
Toxicity''); Procedure 7 (``Loading Limits''); Procedure 8: (``Water 
Quality-based Effluent Limitations Below the Quantification Level); 
Procedure 9 (``Compliance Schedules''). EPA is not soliciting comment 
on the States' adoption of requirements pertaining to Implementation 
Procedures 1 (``Site Specific Modifications'') or 2 (``Variances'') 
because those requirements constitute parts of the States' water 
quality standards, not its NPDES program.
    Under 40 CFR 123.62(b)(2) and 132.5(e), whenever EPA determines 
that a proposed revision to a State NPDES program is substantial, EPA 
must provide notice and allow public comment on the proposed revisions. 
The extent to which the States have modified their NPDES programs to be 
consistent with the Guidance varies significantly, depending on the 
extent to which their existing programs already were ``as protective 
as'' the implementation procedures in the Guidance. EPA has not 
conducted a State-by-State review of the submissions to ascertain for 
each State individually whether their changes constitute substantial 
program modifications. However, in light of the fact that the States 
have modified these programs in response to the explicit statutory 
mandate contained in section 118(c) of the Clean Water Act, EPA 
believes that it is appropriate to consider the NPDES component of the 
States' submissions to be substantial program modifications, and 
therefore has decided to solicit public comment regarding those 
provisions.
    Interested persons may request a public hearing regarding whether 
EPA should approve, pursuant to 40 CFR 123.62, and 132.5(g), those 
portions of the States' submissions that revise the States' approved 
NPDES permitting program. EPA will determine, based upon requests 
received, if there is significant interest to warrant a public hearing.
    Based on General Counsel Opinion 78-7 (April 18, 1978), EPA has 
long considered a determination to approve or deny a State NPDES 
program submission to constitute an adjudication because an 
``approval'', within the meaning of the APA, constitutes a ``license'', 
which, in turn, is the product of an ``adjudication''. For this reason, 
the statutes and Executive Orders that apply to rulemaking action are 
not applicable here. Among these are provisions of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. Under the RFA, whenever a 
Federal agency proposes or promulgates a rule under section 553 [of the 
Administrative Procedures Act (APA)], after being required by that 
section or any other law to publish a general notice of proposed 
rulemaking, the Agency must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis 
for the rule, unless the Agency certifies that the rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
If the Agency does not certify the rule, the regulatory flexibility 
analysis must describe and assess the impact of a rule on small 
entities affected by the rule.
    Even if the NPDES program modification were a rule subject to the 
RFA, the Agency would certify that approval of the State's modified 
program would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. EPA's action to approve an NPDES program 
modification merely recognizes revisions to the program which have 
already been enacted as a matter of State law; it would, therefore, 
impose no additional obligations upon those subject to the State's 
program. Accordingly, the Regional Administrator would certify that 
this program modification, even if a rule, would not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

    Dated: April 15, 1998.
Michelle D. Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 98-11258 Filed 4-27-98; 8:45 am]
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