[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 154 (Thursday, August 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41875-41876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-20016]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7029-9]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Report on Costs Associated With 
the Total Maximum Daily Load Program and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: EPA has developed and is requesting comment on a draft report 
and two supporting technical documents on the total national costs 
associated with the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program. The TMDL 
program requires States to identify waters that are not meeting State 
water quality standards and to establish pollutant budgets, called 
TMDLs, to restore the quality of those waters. The draft report, and 
the support documents, were prepared in response to a directive 
contained in the Conference Report #106-988 describing the VA/HUD and 
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2001. The Conference 
Report asked for a comprehensive assessment of resources required for 
the development and implementation of TMDLs, including costs to States 
and the public and private sectors. EPA will consider comments on this 
draft report and will then issue a final report.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted by December 7, 2001. 
Comments submitted electronically will be considered timely if they are 
submitted by 11:59 p.m. December 7, 2001.

ADDRESSES: You may send written comments to the W-00-31-II TMDL 
Comments Clerk, Water Docket (MC-4101); U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency; 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Comments may 
be hand-delivered to the Water Docket, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency; 401 M Street, SW., EB-57, Washington, DC 20460; (202) 260-3027 
between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday excluding 
legal holidays. Comments may be submitted electronically to [email protected]. The draft report and two supporting documents 
are available for review in the Water Docket at the above address. The 
complete text of the draft report and supporting documents is available 
on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/tmdl/costs. Copies of the 
complete draft can also be obtained by request from Myra Price at the 
above address, by E-mail at [email protected] or by calling (202) 260-
7108

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Wilson at (202) 260-7878 or 
Francoise Brasier at (202) 260-5668

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a TMDL rule on 
July 13, 2000 (the July 2000 rule) to clarify existing TMDL program 
regulations, promulgated in 1985 and amended in 1992, and improve the 
TMDL program. The TMDL program is the framework by

[[Page 41876]]

which EPA works cooperatively with the States, Territories, and 
authorized Tribes to restore those waters that do not achieve the clean 
water goals--water quality standards--set for them by the States.
    The July 2000 rule generated considerable controversy. 
Particularly, there was concern that EPA's estimate of the cost of the 
July 2000 rule (i.e., $22.8 million per year, as described in the 
accompanying economic analysis) was unrealistic, and significantly 
underestimated the full cost of the TMDL program.
    In response to these and other concerns, Congress directed EPA to 
conduct a more comprehensive assessment of the costs of developing and 
implementing TMDLs and report those findings to the Appropriations 
Committees. This comprehensive assessment includes the cost of 
monitoring impaired waters, developing TMDLs for the listed waters and 
implementing the TMDLs. These costs are based on both the existing 
program as well as the requirements of the July 2000 rule, which is not 
effective yet. The directive was contained in the Conference Report 
#106-988 describing the VA/HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations 
Act for FY 2001. In response, EPA has prepared a draft report which is 
the subject of today's notice.

B. Key Findings

    EPA's draft report estimates the total national cost to develop 
TMDLs and then compares the estimated cost to actual costs experienced 
by States and EPA to date. The report also estimates the costs to 
pollutant sources of implementing TMDLs to restore impaired waters 
under various scenarios. In addition, the report addresses economic 
analysis issues raised by the Comptroller General. The Comptroller 
General's comments can be found on the Internet at http://www.gao.gov /
cgi-bin/getrpt ?GAO/RCED-00-206R.
    Key findings of the report include:
    1. The costs to pollutant sources for implementing the TMDL program 
are expected to be between approximately $1billion and $3.4 billion per 
year but might be higher or lower depending on the extent to which 
States choose to allocate more of the reductions to sources with lower 
control costs versus equal percentage reductions to sources regardless 
of costs.
    The report examines costs under three potential scenarios: (1) A 
``least flexible'' scenario which describes a uniform and inflexible 
approach for allocating point and nonpoint source pollutant loads, (2) 
a ``moderately cost-effective'' scenario under which pollutant load 
reductions are targeted to the appropriate point and nonpoint sources 
and (3) a ``more cost-effective'' scenario, under which a State could 
minimize costs by assigning most of the pollutant load reductions to 
sources that have relatively low costs for achieving these reductions. 
Under the ``more cost-effective'' scenario, the cost of measures to 
implement TMDLs for impaired waters now identified by States is 
estimated to be between $900 million and $3.2 billion per year. Under 
the ``moderately cost-effective'' scenario, costs would be expected to 
be between $1 billion and $3.4 billion per year. Under the ``least 
flexible'' scenario, costs might be as high as $4.3 billion per year.
    2. The average costs of developing TMDLs is estimated to be between 
$63 million and $69 million per year nationwide over the next 15 years.
    This estimate is based on the 36,000 TMDLs that will need to be 
developed for the various pollutants in the over 20,000 waterbodies 
identified as impaired. The average cost of developing an individual 
TMDL is estimated to be about $50,000, with a range of costs between 
$26,000 and over $500,000. The costs of TMDL development cited in this 
report are based on requirements of the existing TMDL program as well 
as new provisions added in July 2000, but not yet in effect. The costs 
of the additional requirements associated with the July 2000 
regulations represent less than 10% of the total TMDL development cost 
estimated in this report.
    3. The cost of water quality monitoring to support the development 
of TMDLs is expected to be approximately $17 million per year.
    This is a preliminary national estimate of additional monitoring 
needed to support TMDL development and implementation from a limited 
survey of State experiences to date.

C. Request for Comments

    EPA is requesting comments on all aspects of this draft report and 
the support documents. Please submit an original and three copies of 
your comments and enclosures (including references). To ensure that EPA 
can read, understand, and therefore properly respond to comments, the 
Agency would prefer that comments cite, where possible, the sections in 
the draft report or supporting documents to which each comment refers. 
Commenters should use a separate paragraph for each issue discussed.
    Electronic comments must be submitted as a WordPerfect 5.1, WP6.1 
or WP8 file or as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters. 
Comments and data will also be accepted on disks in WP 5.1, WP6.1 or 
WP8, or ASCII file format. Electronic comments on this Notice may be 
filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries. Commenters who want 
EPA to acknowledge receipt of their comments should include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope. No facsimiles (faxes) or submissions in 
other electronic formats (e.g., Word, pdf, Excel) will be accepted.
    The information received in response to this notice will be filed 
under docket number W-00-31-II, and includes referenced documents as 
well as printed, paper versions of electronic comments. The record is 
available for inspection from 9 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays at the Water Docket, EB57, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Headquarters, 401 M St. SW., Washington, DC. For 
access to docket materials, please call (202) 260-3027 to schedule an 
appointment.

    Dated: August 2, 2001.
Diane C. Regas,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 01-20016 Filed 8-8-01; 8:45 am]
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