[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47065-47067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19307]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9712-7]


Final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 
General Permit for Stormwater Discharges From Construction Activities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of corrections to the 2012 Construction General Permit.

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SUMMARY: EPA previously announced the issuance of the NPDES general 
permit for stormwater discharges from construction activity, also 
referred to as the 2012 Construction General Permit (2012 CGP), in the 
February 29, 2012 Federal Register. Today's action

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provides notice of final 2012 CGP issuance for Idaho; Washington (for 
projects involving federal operators); the Fond Du Lac Band and Grand 
Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota; the Bad River Band 
and Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Wisconsin. EPA is 
also today providing notice of its correction of typographical errors 
made in the 2012 CGP pertaining to New Mexico's state-specific 
requirements and the state's list of designated Tier 2 and Tier 3 
waters, and a correction to EPA's omission of Idaho's list of 
designated Tier 2 and Tier 3 waters.

DATES: The 2012 CGP became effective in Idaho on April 9, 2012; for 
federal operators in Washington on April 13, 2012; and for the above-
referenced Tribal areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin on May 9, 2012. 
These effective dates provide dischargers with the immediate 
opportunity to comply with Clean Water Act requirements in light of the 
expiration of the 2008 CGP on February 15, 2012. The 2012 CGP and the 
authorization to discharge will expire at midnight on February 16, 
2017. Within 90 days of the permit's date of issuance, operators of 
existing projects must submit an NOI for coverage under the new permit. 
Therefore, for existing projects located in areas in the State of Idaho 
(except for Indian country) NOIs must be submitted by no later than 
July 8, 2012. For existing projects located in areas in the State of 
Washington (except for Indian country) subject to construction activity 
by a Federal Operator, NOIs must be submitted by no later than July 12, 
2012. For existing projects located in the following areas, NOIs must 
be submitted no later than August 7, 2012: The Fond Du Lac Band and 
Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota; the Bad 
River Band and Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in 
Wisconsin. Operators of new projects who elect to be covered under the 
2012 CGP are required to submit an NOI for coverage at least 14 days 
prior to the commencement of earth-disturbing activities. If a 
permitted operator is transferring control of a construction project to 
a new operator, the new operator must submit a NOI 14 days prior to the 
date of transfer.
    In accordance with 40 CFR part 23, this permit shall be considered 
issued for the purpose of judicial review on the date of this 
publication. Under section 509(b) of the Clean Water Act, judicial 
review of this general permit can be had by filing a petition for 
review in the United States Court of Appeals within 120 days after the 
permit is considered issued for purposes of judicial review. Under 
section 509(b)(2) of the Clean Water Act, the requirements in this 
permit may not be challenged later in civil or criminal proceedings to 
enforce these requirements. In addition, this permit may not be 
challenged in other agency proceedings. Deadlines for submittal of 
notices of intent for projects located in the areas listed above are 
provided as part of this action.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the CGP, 
contact the appropriate EPA Regional office listed in Section I.C, or 
you can send an email to [email protected]. You may also contact Greg Schaner 
or Erika Farris, EPA Headquarters, Office of Water, Office of 
Wastewater Management at tel.: [email protected] or 
[email protected], respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information is organized 
as follows:

Table of Contents

I. General Information
    A. Does this action apply to me?
    B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?
    C. Who are the EPA regional contacts for this permit?
II. Summary of Permit Actions
    A. Issuance of 2012 CGP for Additional States and Tribes
    B. Correction of Typographical Errors in New Mexico Requirements
    C. Correction to Omission of Idaho's List of Sensitive Waters
III. Compliance With Other Statutes

I. General Information

    EPA summarized the CGP permit conditions, as well as changes from 
the previous version of the CGP, in the February 29, 2012, Federal 
Register notice.

A. Does this action apply to me?

    The final 2012 construction general permit (also referred to as 
``CGP'' or ``2012 CGP'') applies to the following construction 
activities:

         Table 1--Entities Potentially Regulated by This Permit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          North American
                                                             Industry
        Category           Examples of affected entities  Classification
                                                          System (NAICS)
                                                               code
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Industry................    Construction site operators disturbing 1 or
                            more acres of land, or less than 1 acre but
                            part of a larger common plan of development
                               or sale if the larger common plan will
                               ultimately disturb 1 acre or more, and
                                performing the following activities:
 
                          Construction Buildings........             236
                          Heavy and Civil Engineering                237
                           Construction.
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    EPA does not intend the preceding table to be exhaustive, but 
provides it as a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be 
regulated by this action. This table lists the types of activities that 
EPA is now aware of that could potentially be affected by this action. 
Other types of entities not listed in the table could also be affected. 
To determine whether your facility is regulated by this action, you 
should carefully examine the definition of ``construction activity'' 
and ``small construction activity'' in existing EPA regulations at 40 
CFR 122.26(b)(14)(x) and 122.26(b)(15), respectively. If you have 
questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular 
entity, consult one of the persons listed for technical information in 
the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782. The official public 
docket is the collection of materials that is available for public 
viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA 
West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460. 
Although all documents in the

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docket are listed in an index, some information is not publicly 
available, i.e., Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Publicly 
available docket materials are available in hard copy at the EPA Docket 
Center Public Reading Room, open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the 
Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744 and the telephone number for the 
Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the United States government on-line source for 
Federal regulations at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Electronic versions of this final permit and fact sheet are 
available on EPA's NPDES Web site at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through the 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.regulations.gov to submit or view public 
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official 
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that 
are available electronically. For additional information about EPA's 
public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/dockets. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials through the Docket Facility identified in Section 
I.B.1.

C. Who are the EPA regional contacts?

    For EPA Region 5, contact Brian Bell at tel.: (312) 886-0981 or 
email at [email protected].
    For EPA Region 6, contact Suzanna Perea at tel.: (214) 665-7217 or 
email at [email protected].
    For EPA Region 10, contact Margaret McCauley at tel.: (206) 553-
1772 or email at [email protected].

II. Summary of Permit Actions

A. Issuance of 2012 CGP for Additional States and Tribes

    On February 16, 2012, EPA issued the 2012 CGP for most of the areas 
where EPA is the permitting authority. Because EPA had not yet received 
Clean Water Act Section 401 certifications from certain states and 
tribes, EPA was not able to issue the final CGP in these areas. The 
following states and tribes were affected:
     The State of Idaho;
     Federal operators in Washington;
     The Fond Du Lac Band and Grand Portage Band of Lake 
Superior Chippewa in Minnesota; and
     The Bad River, Lac Du Flambeau, and Sokaogon Chippewa 
(Mole Lake) Community in Wisconsin.
    Now that EPA has received the required Clean Water Act 401 
certifications, the Agency has issued the final 2012 CGP for these 
areas, except for the Sokaogon Chippewa (Mole Lake) Community in 
Wisconsin, who denied certification of the permit. Pursuant to CWA 
section 401(d), the limitations and requirements contained in these 
certifications are now conditions of the 2012 CGP and are included in 
Part 9 of the permit. See Parts 9.3, 9.7.1, and 9.7.3.
    The complete text of the updated 2012 CGP as well as additional 
information on Webcasts, Guidance, and Other Implementation Assistance 
can be obtained through EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.

B. Correction of Typographical Errors in New Mexico Requirements

    Following the issuance of the 2012 CGP on February 16, 2012, EPA 
discovered that a few of the requirements in Part 9.4.1 were 
incorrectly transcribed from the State of New Mexico's Section 401 
certification conditions. The errors related to EPA's misinterpretation 
of a few of the state's site stabilization conditions. Additionally, 
EPA learned that the permit's list of New Mexico waterbodies designated 
by the state as Tier 2 or Tier 3 for antidegradation purposes (Appendix 
F) was inaccurate. As a result of the errors, Appendix F did not 
properly inform construction operators of which waters are designated 
by the state as Tier 2; construction sites discharging to Tier 2-
designated waters are subject to stricter stabilization and inspection 
requirements. See Part 3.3.2. In consultation with the state, EPA has 
corrected the errors and included updated requirements in Part 9.4.1 
and Appendix F of the permit.

C. Correction to Omission of Idaho's List of Sensitive Waters

    Subsequent to permit issuance, EPA also discovered that it had 
erroneously omitted Idaho's list of state Tier 2 and 3 waters (Appendix 
F). In consultation with the state, EPA has corrected the omission, and 
has updated the Appendix F list to include instructions on how to 
determine if particular waters are designated as Tier 2 or 3.

III. Compliance With Other Statutes

    EPA summarized the Agency's compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Executive Orders 12866 and 13563, 
Executive Order 12898, and Executive Order 13175 in the February 29, 
2012 Federal Register notice. See 77 FR 12292 for more information.

    Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

    Dated: May 30, 2012.
Michael A. Bussell,
Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, EPA Region 10.
    Dated: May 31, 2012.
Timothy C. Henry,
Associate Director, Water Division, EPA Region 5.
    Dated: May 30, 2012.
William K. Honker, P.E.,
Acting Director, Water Quality Protection Division, EPA Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2012-19307 Filed 8-6-12; 8:45 am]
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