[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 29, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 73047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33775]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6516-8]


Regulatory Reinvention (XLC) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of Steele County Project XL for 
Communities (XLC) Draft Final Project Agreement.

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SUMMARY: EPA is today requesting comments on a draft Project XLC Final 
Project Agreement (FPA) for Steele County, MN. The FPA is a voluntary 
agreement developed by the Steele County Community Sponsors, the Cities 
of Owatonna and Blooming Prairie, MN, project stakeholders, the 
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), and EPA.

DATES: The period for submission of comments ends on January 28, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments on the draft Final Project Agreement should be 
sent to: Abeer Hashem, Water Division, WC-15J, US EPA Region 5, 77 West 
Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3507, or Kristina Heinemann, U.S. 
EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Room 445WT (1802), Washington, DC 20460. 
Comments may also be faxed to Ms. Hashem at (312) 886-0168 or Ms. 
Heinemann at (202) 260-7875. Comments will also be received via 
electronic mail sent to: [email protected] or 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain a copy of the draft Final 
Project Agreement, contact: Abeer Hashem, Water Division, WC-15J, U.S. 
EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3507, or 
Kristina Heinemann, U.S. EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Room 445WT (1802), 
Washington, DC 20460. The documents are also available via the Internet 
at the following location: ``http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''. In 
addition, public files on the Project are located at EPA Region 5 in 
Chicago, IL. Questions to EPA regarding the documents can be directed 
to Abeer Hashem at (312) 886-1331 or Kristina Heinemann at (202) 260-
5355. Additional information on Project XL and XLC, including documents 
referenced in this notice, other EPA policy documents related to 
Project XL and XLC, application information, and descriptions of 
existing XL and XLC projects and proposals, is available via the 
Internet at ``http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Project XLC, announced in the Federal 
Register on November 1, 1995 (60 FR 55569), gives regulated sources the 
flexibility to develop alternative strategies that will replace or 
modify specific regulatory requirements on the condition that they 
produce greater environmental benefits.
    If implemented, the draft FPA would carry out the first phase of a 
community-wide project consisting of a two-phase approach to attain 
Environmental Excellence and Leadership. This draft FPA states the 
intentions of the parties to implement Phase I of the Steele County, MN 
Community XL Project Pilot.
    Phase I would specifically address industrial regulated wastewater 
effluent reductions, and at the same time concentrate on significant 
water use reduction controls. Phase II would expand to a multi-media 
approach to environmental permitting. It would be based on overall 
community performance, rather than individual member performance, in 
the areas of air emissions, solid waste, hazardous waste, chemical 
storage, and community sustainability.
    In Phase I, direct participants from the Steele County community 
have agreed jointly to four Superior Environmental Performance (SEP) 
approaches. The Owatonna, MN Sponsors have committed to: (1) Reduce the 
discharge of four priority metals; (2) reduce water usage; (3) develop 
and implement a storm water and sewer water separation and education 
plan in an effort to minimize the impact of storm water on the Owatonna 
wastewater treatment facility; and (4) develop and participate in a 
training and assessment program to better understand potential benefits 
of an ISO 14000 Environmental Management System (EMS). The Blooming 
Prairie, MN Sponsor has agreed to: (1) Reduce the discharge of three 
priority effluents; and (2) reduce water usage.
    Phase I of this agreement would also provide regulatory flexibility 
to the Owatonna Sponsors in the following areas: (1) An incentive-based 
monitoring approach, such that as metal discharge goals are met, the 
frequency of monitoring may be reduced; (2) a mass-based compliance 
standard would replace the concentration-based standard currently in 
place; (3) the elimination of pollutant monitoring where a pollutant is 
not discharged; (4) the development of an alternative Significant Non-
Compliance (SNC) approach, under which qualifying violations may be 
posted on the MPCA website in lieu of being published in the local 
newspaper. Phase I of this agreement would provide regulatory 
flexibility to the Blooming Prairie Sponsor in two areas: (1) An 
incentive-based monitoring approach, such that as effluent discharge 
goals are met, the frequency of monitoring may be reduced; and (2) the 
elimination of pollutant monitoring where a pollutant is not 
discharged. Regulatory flexibility will rely on EPA to issue a federal 
site-specific rule (subject to public notice and consideration of 
public comment) and any corresponding State and City action needed for 
the project to proceed.
    For Phase I current regulatory limits for participating facilities 
would remain in effect. The regulatory limits would be changed from 
concentration-based limits to mass-based limits. An exceedance of a 
mass-based limit could result in the use of traditional enforcement 
tools.

    Dated: December 22, 1999.
Richard T. Farrell,
Associate Administrator, Office of Policy and Reinvention.
[FR Doc. 99-33775 Filed 12-28-99; 8:45 am]
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