[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 140 (Friday, July 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43847-43848]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15648]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R06-OW-2022-0603; FRL-6179.1-01-R6]
Proposed NPDES General Permit for New and Existing Sources and
New Dischargers in the Offshore Subcategory of the Oil and Gas
Extraction Category for the Western Portion of the Outer Continental
Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (GMG290000)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed NPDES general permit issuance.
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SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator of Region 6 proposes to reissue the
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit
No. GMG290000 for existing and new sources and new dischargers in the
Offshore Subcategory of the Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source
Category, located in and discharging to the Outer Continental Shelf
offshore of Louisiana and Texas. The discharge of produced water to
that portion of the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Subcategory
facilities located in the territorial seas of Louisiana and Texas is
also authorized by this permit.
This draft permit proposes to retain, with certain modifications,
the limitations and conditions of the existing 2017 issued permit (2017
permit). The 2017 permit limitations conform with the Oil and Gas
Offshore Subcategory Guidelines and contain additional requirements to
assess impacts from the discharge of produced water to the marine
environment, as required by section 403(c) of the Clean Water Act. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to use the reissued
permit to regulate oil and gas extraction facilities located in the
Outer Continental Shelf of the Western Gulf of Mexico, e.g., offshore
oil and gas extraction platforms, but other types of facilities may
also be subject to the permit. Covered operators would fall primarily
under the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) 211
and 213 code series (previously the Standard Industrial Classification
(SIC) 13 code series). To determine whether your facility, company,
business, organization, etc., may be affected by this action, you
should carefully examine the applicability criteria in Part I, Section
A.1 of the draft permit.
DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing to EPA on or before
September 20, 2022.
[[Page 43848]]
Proposed Documents: A complete draft permit and a fact sheet fully
explaining the proposal are available online via the docket for this
action at: https://www.regulations.gov. A copy of the proposed permit,
fact sheet, and this Federal Register Notice may also be found via the
EPA Region 6 website at: https://www3.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/genpermit/index.htm.
To obtain hard copies of these documents or any other information
in the administrative record, please contact Ms. Evelyn Rosborough
using the contact information provided below.
Other Legal Requirements: Other statutory and regulatory
requirements are discussed in the fact sheet that include: Oil Spill
Requirement; Ocean Discharge Criteria Evaluation; Marine Protection,
Research, and Sanctuaries Act; National Environmental Policy Act;
Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act; Endangered
Species Act; State Water Quality Standards and State Certification;
Coastal Zone Management Act; Paperwork Reduction Act; and Regulatory
Flexibility Act.
How do I comment on this proposal?
Comment Submittals: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID.
No. EPA-R06-OW-2022-0603; by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/
(our preferred method).
By Email: Send comments by email to
[email protected]. Include Docket ID. No EPA-R06-OW-2022-0603;
in the subject line of the email.
By Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Deliver comments to U.S.
EPA, Attn: Evelyn Rosborough, 1201 Elm Street, Dallas, Texas 75270.
We encourage the public to submit comments via
www.Regulations.gov or via email as there may be a delay in processing
mail and hand deliveries will be accepted by appointment only due to
public health concerns related to COVID-19.
Please submit your comments within the specified time
period cited in the DATES section of this document. Comments received
after the close of the comment period will be marked ``late''. The EPA
is not required to consider these late comments. All comments received
by the EPA in accordance with this section by the ending date of the
comment period will be considered by the EPA before a final decision is
made regarding permit issuance.
Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
the docket. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public
docket.
Do not submit to EPA's docket or email 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. The 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.
Administrative record: All documents and references used in the
development of this permit are part of the Administrative Record for
this permit. Although listed in the index, some information is not
publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted
material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly
available materials are available either electronically or in hard copy
from Ms. Evelyn Rosborough at the address above. The Administrative
Record may also be viewed at the EPA Region 6 Offices from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. For more
information on scheduling a time to view the Record or to obtain copies
of available documents, please contact Ms. Evelyn Rosborough at 214-
665-7515 or [email protected].
Public Meetings and Public Hearings
Public meetings and hearings on the proposed permit will be held
during the comment period approximately 30 to 45 days after the date of
this notice. Times, places and instructions for virtual participation
will be announced online at the EPA Public Notices pages for Texas and
Louisiana at https://www.epa.gov/publicnotices. The meetings will
include a presentation on the proposed permit followed by the
opportunity for questions and answers. The public hearings will be held
in accordance with the requirements of 40 CFR 124.12. At the public
hearing, any person may submit oral or written statements and data
concerning the proposed permit. Any person who cannot attend one of the
public hearings may still submit written comments, which have the same
weight as comments made at the public hearing, through the end of the
public comment period.
Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
Charles W. Maguire,
Director, Water Division, EPA Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2022-15648 Filed 7-21-22; 8:45 am]
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