[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6533-6534]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01082]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R06-OW-2017-0017; FRL-9958-31-Region 6]


Proposed Reissuance of the NPDES General Permit for Facilities 
Related to Oil and Gas Extraction in the Territorial Seas of Texas

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Director of the Water Division, Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) Region 6 today proposes to reissue the National Pollutant 
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for the Territorial 
Seas of Texas (No. TXG260000) for discharges from existing and new 
dischargers and New Sources in the Offshore Subcategory of the Oil and 
Gas Extraction Point Source Category as authorized by section 402 of 
the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1342. The permit will supersede the 
previous general permit (TXG260000) issued on February 8, 2012 and 
published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 8855. This permit renewal 
authorizes discharges from exploration, development, and production 
facilities located in and discharging to the territorial seas off 
Texas.
    Comment: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R06-
OW-2017-0017 to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. EPA 
may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the 
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish 
to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents 
located outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or 
other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full 
EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia 
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please 
visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 6, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Evelyn Rosborough, Region 6, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-
2733. Telephone: (214) 665-7515. Email: [email protected].
    A complete draft permit and a fact sheet more fully explaining the 
proposal may be obtained from Ms. Rosborough. In addition, the Agency's 
current administrative record on the proposal is available for 
examination at the Region's Dallas offices during normal working hours 
after providing Ms. Rosborough 24 hours advance notice. A copy of the 
proposed permit, fact sheet, and this Federal Register Notice may be 
found on the EPA Region 6 Web site at: https://www3.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/genpermit/index.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA intends to use the proposed reissued 
permit to regulate discharges from oil and gas extraction facilities 
located in the territorial seas off Texas. To obtain discharge 
authorization, operators of such facilities must submit a new Notice of 
Intent (NOI). To determine whether your (facility, company, business, 
organization, etc.) is regulated by this action, you should carefully 
examine the applicability criteria in Part I, Section A.2 of the 
permit. If you have questions regarding the applicability of this 
action to a particular entity, consult the person listed in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section above. The proposed permit contains 
limitations conforming to EPA's Oil and Gas Extraction, Offshore 
Subcategory Effluent Limitation Guidelines at 40 CFR part 435 and 
additional requirements assuring that regulated discharges will not 
cause unreasonable degradation of the marine environment, as required 
by section 403(c) of the Clean Water Act. Limitations and conditions 
are also included to ensure compliance with State Water Quality 
Standards. Specific information on the derivation of those limitations 
and conditions is contained in the fact sheet. Specifically, the draft 
permit proposes to prohibit the discharge of drilling fluids, drill 
cuttings and produced sand. Produced water discharges are limited for 
oil and grease, 7-day chronic toxicity, and 48-hour acute toxicity. In 
addition to limits on oil and grease, the proposed permit includes a 
prohibition of the discharge of priority pollutants except in trace 
amounts in well treatment, completion, and workover fluids. A limit of 
``No Free Oil'' is proposed for miscellaneous discharges, such as non-
contact cooling water and

[[Page 6534]]

ballast water, and on deck drainage discharges. Discharges of seawater 
and freshwater which have been used to pressure test existing pipelines 
and piping, to which treatment chemicals have been added, are proposed 
to be subject to limitations on free oil, concentration of treatment 
chemicals, and acute toxicity. New facilities withdrawing cooling water 
greater than 2 million gallons per day (MGD) are required to have the 
best technology available for minimizing fish/shellfish impingement 
mortality and entrainment caused by cooling water intake structures. 
Pursuant to the electronic reporting rule published in the Federal 
Register (80 FR 64063), a new electronic reporting requirement is added 
to the proposed permit.

Other Legal Requirements

    State certification under section 401 of the CWA; consistency with 
the Texas Coastal Management Program; and compliance with National 
Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Historic Preservation Act, 
Paperwork Reduction Act, and Regulatory Flexibility Act requirements 
are discussed in the fact sheet to the proposed permit.

    Dated: December 28, 2016.
William K. Honker,
Director, Water Division, EPA Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2017-01082 Filed 1-18-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P