[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 230 (Friday, December 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83937-83939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26437]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R06-OW-2023-0566; FRL-11561-01-R6]


Notice of Availability of Initial Revised Designation of Certain 
Stormwater Discharges in the State of New Mexico Under the National 
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System of the Clean Water Act

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 is 
providing notice of an initial revised designation determination that 
storm water discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area (as defined by 
the latest decennial Census) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) 
property in Los Alamos County and Santa Fe County, New Mexico are 
contributing to violations of New Mexico water quality standards (WQS) 
and require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 
permit coverage under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This action is in 
response to a June 30, 2014, petition filed with EPA by Amigos Bravos 
entitled ``A Petition by Amigos Bravos for a Determination that Storm 
Water Discharges in Los Alamos County Contribute to Water Quality 
Standards Violations and Require a Clean Water Act Permit,'' and 
revises the Agency's prior December 16, 2019, designation decision, 
which was remanded to EPA for reconsideration by the Tenth Circuit 
Court of Appeals.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 29, 2024. The 
``Initial Revised Designation Decision and Record of Initial Decision 
in Response to A Petition by Amigos Bravos for a Determination that 
Stormwater Discharges in Los Alamos County Contribute to Water Quality 
Standards Violations and Require Clean Water Act Permit Coverage'' was 
signed on November 6, 2023. The EPA will hold an informal virtual 
public meeting in January 2024, at least two weeks before the end of 
the public comment period. Please refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section for additional information on the public hearing.

[[Page 83938]]


ADDRESSES: You may send comments on the Initial Designation 
Determination, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R06-OW-2023-0566, by the 
following method:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the EPA-R06-OW-
2023-0566 for this Initial Designation Determination. Comments received 
may be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov/, including 
any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending 
comments and additional information on the Initial Designation 
Determination, see the ``Public Participation'' heading of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact Ms. 
Evelyn Rosborough via email: [email protected], or may be 
mailed to Ms. Evelyn Rosborough, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 6, Water Division (6WQ-NP), 1201 Elm Street, Suite 500, Dallas, 
TX 75270.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation

A. Written Comments

    Submit your comments as detailed in the ADDRESSES section. Do not 
submit to EPA any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI), Proprietary Business Information (PBI), 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).

B. Participation in Virtual Public Meeting

    More information on how to participate in the informal virtual 
public meeting planned for January 2024 will be available soon via the 
New Mexico section of the Public Notices at U.S. EPA web page at 
https://www.epa.gov/publicnotices. Public comments will not be accepted 
during the public meeting, but the date of the meeting will provide at 
least two weeks after the meeting to submit written comments prior to 
the end of the public comment period.

II. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    Small MS4s operated by the County of Los Alamos, Los Alamos 
National Laboratory, including Triad National Security, LLC and the 
U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, 
and the New Mexico Department of Transportation would potentially be 
regulated as a result of this action. To determine whether your entity 
is affected by this action, you should also review the description of 
EPA's action in Section II.B of this notice and the Initial Designation 
Determination document available in Docket ID No. EPA-R06-OW-2023-0566 
at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/ or 
online via the Public Notice web page for New Mexico at: https://www.epa.gov/publicnotices. 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.

B. Summary and Availability of Designation Documents

    The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 6 has made an initial 
designation of stormwater discharges from certain MS4s for regulation 
under the NPDES permitting program pursuant to Section 402(p)(2)(E) and 
(6) of the CWA and EPA's implementing regulations at 40 CFR 
122.26(a)(9)(i)(C)-(D). Those provisions authorize the Agency to 
regulate stormwater discharges that contribute to a WQS violation or 
that are a significant contributor of pollutants to waters of the 
United States, or where controls are needed based on wasteload 
allocations that are part of total maximum daily loads. This authority 
is often referred to as ``residual designation authority'' or RDA. EPA 
is providing notice of its revised initial designation that storm water 
discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area (as defined by the latest 
decennial Census) and LANL property in Los Alamos County and Santa Fe 
County, New Mexico are contributing to violations of New Mexico WQS and 
require NPDES permit coverage under the CWA.
    This proposed initial designation revises EPA's prior December 16, 
2019, decision designating stormwater discharges from small MS4s 
operated by the County of Los Alamos, LANL, and the New Mexico 
Department of Transportation for NPDES permitting. The County of Los 
Alamos filed a petition for review of EPA's 2019 designation with the 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Following the filing of 
the petition for review, EPA filed a motion for voluntary remand to 
reconsider its response to the Petition considering the Supreme Court's 
intervening decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. 
Ct. 1462 (2020) (Maui) and based on other relevant factors. On January 
21, 2022, the Court granted EPA's motion, remanding the matter to EPA 
``for the limited purpose of reconsidering the EPA's decision that is 
the subject of this petition for review. Specifically, the EPA should 
reconsider its decision in light of the Supreme Court's decision in 
County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020). The EPA 
may conduct any and all proceedings it deems necessary and appropriate 
to reconsider the decision at issue in this case.'' Order, United 
States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, January 21, 2022, Case #20-
9534, at 2. In addition to considering the Supreme Court's decision in 
Maui, EPA has also considered the facts at issue in this matter 
considering the recent Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA, 598 
U.S. 651, 143 S. Ct. 1322 (2023). EPA has carefully considered all 
record information, including stormwater discharge data collected by 
NMED, LANL, and the Buckman Direct Diversion, NMED's water quality 
assessments and lists of impaired waters and any supplemental 
information submitted by LANL or the County regarding EPA's previous 
2019 designation decision, as well as the public comments submitted on 
that decision. EPA also conducted a site visit in September 2022 to 
examine first-hand the effects of the discharges and waters at issue. 
EPA is hereby proposing its initial determination for public comment. 
EPA is soliciting public comment and may revise its findings based on 
public input.
    Upon reconsideration of the Petition on remand, EPA has initially 
determined that stormwater discharges from small MS4s located in the 
Los Alamos Urban Area as defined by the latest decennial Census and 
MS4s located on LANL property within Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, 
New Mexico require NPDES permit coverage because the discharges are 
contributing to violations of NM WQS in waters of the United States. 
The initial designation plus supplementary information relating to it 
are available on the EPA Public Notice web page at: https://www.epa.gov/publicnotices. Please refer to that website to review these 
materials and then follow the directions above in this Notice for 
submitting any comments.


[[Page 83939]]


    Dated: November 27, 2023.
Dzung Kim Ngo Kidd,
Acting Director, Water Division, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2023-26437 Filed 11-30-23; 8:45 am]
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