[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 6, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54032-54034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-22815]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6865-2]


Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of Total Maximum 
Daily Loads (TMDLs) and Final Determination That TMDLs Are Not Needed

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and final determination.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability for comment of the 
administrative record file for six TMDLs prepared by EPA Region 6 for 
waters listed in Louisiana's Mermentau and Vermilion/Teche river 
basins, under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The above 
TMDLs were completed in response to a Court Order dated October 1, 
1999, in the lawsuit Sierra Club, et al. v. Clifford et al., No. 96-
0527, (E.D. La. Oct. 1, 1999). Under this court order, EPA is required 
to establish TMDLs when needed for waters on the Louisiana 1998 section 
303(d) list by December 31, 2007. This notice also announces the 
Agency's final determination that TMDLs are not needed for forty-six 
waterbody/pollutant combinations in the Mermentau and Vermilion/Teche 
river basins and two waterbody/pollutant combinations in the Pearl 
River Basin because the data show that the waterbodies are meeting 
Louisiana's Water Quality Standards for the pollutants involved.

DATES: Comments on the six completed TMDLs must be submitted to EPA on 
or before October 6, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the six TMDLs should be sent to Ellen Caldwell, 
Environmental Protection Specialist, Water Quality Protection Division, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6, 1445 Ross Ave., Dallas, 
TX 75202-2733. For further information, contact Ellen Caldwell at (214) 
665-7513. Copies of the TMDLs and their respective calculations may be 
viewed at www.epa.gov/region6/water/tmdl.htm, or obtained by writing or 
calling Ms. Caldwell at the above address. The administrative record 
file for these TMDLs is available for public inspection at the above 
address as well. Please contact Ms. Caldwell to schedule an inspection.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Caldwell at (214) 665-7513.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1996, two Louisiana environmental groups, 
the Sierra Club and Louisiana Environmental Action Network 
(Plaintiffs), filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the United 
States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), styled Sierra Club, et 
al. v. Clifford et al., No. 96-0527, (E.D. La. Oct. 1, 1999). Among 
other claims, plaintiffs alleged that EPA failed to establish Louisiana 
TMDLs in a timely manner.
    In an order dated October 1, 1999, the Court disapproved EPA's 
proposed 12-year schedule for the establishment of Louisiana TMDLs. 
Among other things, the court ordered the following:
    (1) The defendants, EPA, shall prepare total maximum daily loads 
for Louisiana waters identified as not meeting water quality standards 
according to the following schedule:
    (a) By December 31, 1999, for all of the waters in the Mermentau 
and Vermilion/Teche basins.
    (b) By December 31, 2001, for all of the waters in the Calcasieu 
and Ouachita basins.
    (c) By December 31, 2003, for all of the waters in the Barataria 
and Terrebonne basins.
    (d) By December 31, 2005, for all of the waters in the Red and 
Sabine basins.
    (e) By December 31, 2006, for all of the waters in the 
Pontchartrain basins.
    (f) By December 31, 2007, for all of the waters in the Mississippi, 
Atchafalaya, and Pearl basins.
    (2) The defendants, EPA, shall add or delete waters to the schedule 
as new data confirms that the waters are or are not meeting water 
quality standards. If a water is deleted from the identification of 
waters that do not meet water quality standards, the defendants need 
not prepare a total maximum daily load for the water. If an additional 
water is identified as not meeting water quality standards, the 
defendants shall prepare a total maximum daily load for the water by 
the applicable deadline in the schedule if the water is identified at 
least one year prior to the deadline. If the additional water is 
identified less than one year before the total maximum

[[Page 54033]]

load would be due under the schedule, the defendants shall have 
discretion to prepare the load by the scheduled deadline or to extend 
the schedule.

EPA Seeks Comments on Six TMDLs

    EPA regulations provide for public participation when the Agency 
establishes TMDLs. By this notice, and pursuant to 40 CFR 130.7(d)(2), 
EPA is seeking comment on the following six TMDLs for waters located 
within the Mermentau and Vermilion/Teche basins:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Subsegment                Waterbody name          Pollutant
------------------------------------------------------------------------
050102........................  Bayou Joe Marcel......  Fecal Coliform.
050201........................  Bayou Plaquemine-       Total Dissolved
                                 Brule--Headwaters to    Solids.
                                 Bayou Des Cannes.
050501........................  Bayou Que de Tortue--   Total Dissolved
                                 Headwaters to           Solids.
                                 Mermentau River.
060204........................  Bayou Courtableau--     Fecal Coliform.
                                 Origin To West
                                 Atchafalaya Borrow
                                 Pit Canal.
060204........................  Bayou Courtableau--     Sulfate.
                                 Origin To West
                                 Atchafalaya Borrow
                                 Pit Canal.
060208........................  Bayou Boeuf--           Total Dissolved
                                 Headwaters To Bayou     Solids.
                                 Courtableau.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The administrative record file and calculations for these six TMDLs 
are available for review. EPA requests the public to provide any 
significant data and information that may impact these TMDLs. EPA will 
review all data and information submitted during the public comment 
period and revise the six TMDLs where appropriate. EPA will then 
forward the TMDLs to the Court and the Louisiana Department of 
Environmental Quality (LDEQ). LDEQ will incorporate the TMDLs into its 
current water quality management plan.

Final Notice on Delisting 48 Waterbody/Pollutant Combinations

    Through this notice, EPA also is providing final notice of its 
determination on February 25, 2000, that TMDLs are not needed for 
forty-six waterbody/pollutant combinations in the Mermentau and 
Vermilion/Teche river basins and two combinations in the Pearl River 
Basin.
    On October 28, 1999, in response to the court order dated October 
1, 1999, EPA disapproved Louisiana's 1998 CWA section 303(d) list. On 
November 1, 1999, also in response to the October 1 court order, EPA 
submitted its court-ordered CWA section 303(d) list and administrative 
record. EPA made this court-ordered 303(d) list available for public 
comment 64 FR 66635 (November 29, 1999). On February 25, 2000, after 
review of water quality data and monitoring information and public 
comments, EPA issued a modified section 303(d) list. Consistent with 
paragraph three of the October 1 order, quoted above, EPA determined 
that forty-six waterbody/pollutant combinations in the Mermentau and 
Vermilion/Teche basins and two combinations in the Pearl River Basin 
should be removed from the court-ordered 303(d) list because the data 
and information show that the waterbodies are meeting Louisiana's Water 
Quality Standards for the pollutants involved. Detailed explanations 
for these determinations are set out in the Decision Document for the 
modified section 303(d) list and in Appendix E to that document, which 
provides as follows:
050101  Bayou Des Cannes--Headwaters to Mermentau
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting Water Quality Standards 
(WQS)
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050201  Bayou Plaquemine Brule--Headwaters to Bayou Des Cannes
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Phosphorus--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Turbidity--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050301  Bayou Nezpique--Headwaters to Mermentau
    Copper New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050401  Mermentau River--Origin to Lake Arthur
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Mercury--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Suspended Solids--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050501  Bayou Queue de Tortue--Headwaters to Mermentau
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050601--Lacassine Bayou--Headwaters to Intracoastal Waterway
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
    Suspended solids--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Turbidity--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050703  White Lake
    Siltation--Assessment of data and information shows it is 
meeting WQS
    Turbidity--Assessment of data and information shows it is 
meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
050801  Mermentau River--Catfish Point Control Structure to Gulf of 
Mexico (Estuarine)
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060101  Spring Creek--Headwaters to Cocodrie Lake
    Siltation--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
    Turbidity--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Cadmium--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Mercury--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060102  Cocodrie Lake
    Cadmium--Original basis for listing determined to be inaccurate
    Copper--Original basis for listing determined to be inaccurate
    Lead--Original basis for listing determined to be inaccurate
060201  Bayou Cocodrie from US Highway 167 to the Boeuf-Cocodrie 
Diversion Canal
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060203  Chicot Lake
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060204  Bayou Courtableau--Origin to West Atchafalaya Borrow Pit 
Canal
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060205  Bayou Teche--Headwaters at Bayou Courtableau to I-10
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060401  Bayou Teche--Keystone Locks & Dam to Charenton Canal
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
060501  Bayou Teche--Charenton Canal to Wax Lake Outlet
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
060702  Lake Fausse Point and Dauterive Lake
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
060801  Vermilion River--Headwaters at Bayou Fusilier-Bourbeaux 
Junction to New Flanders (Ambassador Caffery Bridge)
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
    Cadmium--New data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060802  Vermilion River from New Flanders (Ambassador Caffery 
Bridge) New Bridge, LA Hwy 3073 to Intracoastal Waterway
    Phosphorus--Assessment of data shows it is meeting WQS
    Lead--New data shows it is meeting WQS
060902  Bayou Carlin (Delcambre Canal)

[[Page 54034]]

Lake Peigneur to Bayou Petite Anse (Estuarine)
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
061104  Vermilion Bay
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
090101  Pearl River
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
090202  West Pearl River
    Copper--New data shows it is meeting WQS
110507  Bayou Anacoco
    Dioxin--Original basis for listing determined to be inaccurate, 
dioxin included with priority organics list

    EPA requested the public to provide any significant data or 
information warranting revision of EPA's decision to remove these 48 
waterbody/pollutant combinations in 65 FR 19763 (April 12, 2000). No 
comments, data or information were received. Thus, EPA affirms its 
determination that TMDLs are not needed for the above-listed forty-
eight waterbody/pollutant combinations.

    Dated: August 22, 2000.
Sam Becker,
Acting Director, Water Quality Protection Division, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 00-22815 Filed 9-5-00; 8:45 am]
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