80 FR 37255 - Proposed Issuance of NPDES General Permits for Wastewater Lagoon Systems Located in Indian Country in EPA Region 8

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 125 (June 30, 2015)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 is providing for comment the draft 2015 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) lagoon general permits for wastewater lagoon systems located in Indian country in Region 8 (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming). These draft permits are similar to the existing permits and will authorize the discharge of wastewater from lagoons located in Region 8 Indian country in accordance with the terms and conditions described therein. EPA proposes to issue these permits for five (5) years and is seeking comment on the draft permits.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 125 (Tuesday, June 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37255-37257]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16042]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R08-OW-2015-0346; FRL-9929-80-Region-8]


Proposed Issuance of NPDES General Permits for Wastewater Lagoon 
Systems Located in Indian Country in EPA Region 8

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 is 
providing for comment the draft 2015 National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System (NPDES) lagoon general permits for

[[Page 37256]]

wastewater lagoon systems located in Indian country in Region 8 
(Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming). 
These draft permits are similar to the existing permits and will 
authorize the discharge of wastewater from lagoons located in Region 8 
Indian country in accordance with the terms and conditions described 
therein. EPA proposes to issue these permits for five (5) years and is 
seeking comment on the draft permits.

DATES: Comments must be received, in writing, on or before July 30, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R08-
OW-2015-0346, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: VelRey Lozano, Wastewater Program, Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, Mailcode 8P-W-WW, 1595 Wynkoop 
Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129.
     Hand Delivery: VelRey Lozano, Wastewater Program, 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, Mailcode 8P-W-WW, 1595 
Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129. Such deliveries are only 
accepted Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding 
federal holidays. Special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R08-OW-
2015-0346. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or email. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to EPA, without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov your email address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional instructions on submitting 
comments, see Section I, General Information of this document.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. 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 docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Wastewater 
Program, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, 1595 Wynkoop 
Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129. EPA requests that if at all 
possible, you contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section to view the hard copy of the docket. You 
may view the hard copy of the docket Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. 
to 4:00 p.m., excluding federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: VelRey Lozano, Wastewater Program, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, Mailcode 8P-W-WW, 1595 
Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129, (303) 312-6128, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
http://regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all of the 
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or 
CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as 
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the 
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as 
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information 
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. 
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with 
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
    2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
    a. Identify the public notice and docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and 
page number).
    b. Follow directions--Organize comments by referencing the part of 
the permit or fact sheet by section number.
    c. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and 
substitute language for your requested changes.
    d. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information 
and/or data that you used.
    e. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you 
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
    f. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
    g. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of 
profanity or personal threats.
    h. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline 
identified.

II. Background

    These draft permits are similar to the current permits and will 
authorize the discharge of wastewater in accordance with the terms and 
conditions described therein. The fact sheet for the permits is 
provided for download concurrently with the permits and provides 
detailed information on; the decisions used to set limitations, the 
specific geographic areas covered by the permits, information on 
monitoring schedules, inspection requirements, and other regulatory 
decisions or requirements.
    Issuance of the general permits will cover discharges from 
wastewater lagoon systems located in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, 
South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The general permits are grouped 
geographically by state, with the permit coverage being for specified 
Indian reservations located within a state boundary [specific permit 
coverage areas below]; any land held in trust by the United States for 
an Indian tribe; and any other areas which are Indian country within 
the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1151.

III. Summary of Permits

A. Colorado: COG587###

    This permit covers the Southern Ute Reservation and the Ute 
Mountain Reservation, including those portions of the Reservation 
located in New Mexico and Utah.

[[Page 37257]]

B. Montana: MTG589###

    This permit covers the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana; the 
Crow Indian Reservation; the Flathead Reservation; the Fort Belknap 
Reservation of Montana; the Fort Peck Indian Reservation; the Northern 
Cheyenne Indian Reservation; and, the Rocky Boy's Reservation.

C. North Dakota: NDG589###

    This permit covers the Fort Berthold Reservation; the Spirit Lake 
Indian Reservation; the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation; and, the 
Turtle Mountain Reservation.
    This permit includes that portion of the Standing Rock Sioux 
Reservation and associated Indian country located within the State of 
South Dakota. It does not include any land held in trust by the United 
States for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate or any other Indian country 
associated with that Tribe, which is covered under general permit 
SDG589###.

D. South Dakota: SDG589###

    This permit covers the Cheyenne River Reservation; Crow Creek 
Reservation; the Flandreau Santee Sioux Indian Reservation; the Lower 
Brule Reservation; the Pine Ridge Reservation (including the entire 
Reservation, which is located in both South Dakota and Nebraska); the 
Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation; and, the Yankton Sioux Reservation.
    This permit includes any land in the State of North Dakota that is 
held in trust by the United States for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate or 
any other Indian country associated with that Tribe. It does not 
include the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation or any associated Indian 
country, which is covered under general permit NDG589###.

E. Utah: UTG589###

    This permit covers the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation of Utah 
Reservation (Washakie); the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Reservation; 
the Skull Valley Indian Reservation; and Indian country lands within 
the Uintah & Ouray Reservation. It does not include any portions of the 
Navajo Nation or the Goshute Reservation.

F. Wyoming: WYG589###

    This permit covers the Wind River Reservation.
    Coverage under the general permits will be limited to lagoon 
systems treating primarily domestic wastewater and will include two 
categories of coverage; discharging lagoons (DIS), and lagoons expected 
to have no discharge (NODIS). The effluent limitations for discharging 
lagoons are based on the Federal Secondary Treatment Regulation (40 CFR 
part 133) and best professional judgement (BPJ). If more stringent and/
or additional effluent limitations are considered necessary to comply 
with applicable water quality standards, etc., those limitations and 
their basis are explained in the permit fact sheets and will be imposed 
by written notification to the permittee. Lagoon systems under the no 
discharge category are required to have no discharge except in 
accordance with the bypass provisions of the permit. Self-monitoring 
requirements and routine inspection requirements are included in the 
permits.
    Where the Tribes have Clean Water Act section 401(a)(1) 
certification authority; Flathead Indian Reservation, the Fort Peck 
Indian Reservation, Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, and the Ute 
Mountain Indian Reservation; EPA has requested certification that the 
permits comply with the applicable provisions of the Clean Water Act 
and tribal water quality standards.

IV. Other Legal Requirements

    Economic Impact (Executive Order 12866): EPA has determined that 
the issuance of these general permits is not a ``significant regulatory 
action'' under the terms of Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 
4, 1993) and is therefore not subject to formal OMB review prior to 
proposal.
    Paperwork Reduction Act: EPA has reviewed the requirements imposed 
on regulated facilities in these proposed general permits under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. 501, et seq. The information 
collection requirements of these permits have already been approved by 
the Office of Management and Budget in submissions made for the NPDES 
permit program under the provisions of the Clean Water Act.
    Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: Section 201 of the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act (UMRA), Public Law 104-4, generally requires federal 
agencies to assess the effects of their ``regulatory actions'' defined 
to be the same as ``rules'' subject to the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA) on tribal, state, local governments and the private sector. Since 
the permit proposed today is an adjudication, it is not subject to the 
RFA and is therefore not subject to the requirements of the UMRA.

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

    Dated: June 9, 2015.
Darcy O'Connor,
Acting Assistant Regional Administrator, Office of Partnerships and 
Regulatory Assistance.
[FR Doc. 2015-16042 Filed 6-29-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P