ED S T EVEN A .THOMPSON Executiv e Director

**~, }~=~** rt Jtil ':.. 6 AH 1 1: 21 OKLAHOMA DEPARTME fiTJ)F

l ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY P ER,11 TS ORAiJC'H 6\/Q-p RECEIVED EPA-6W O-DIR OFC l2 JUL -2 PH A I¥:ftf';ll Governor Jun e 29 ,2012 Mr. W illi am K. H onke
r ,P
.E. Acting Dir ecto r Wat er Quality Prot ec tion Division Regi on 6 Unit e d Stat es Env
i r o nm e ntal Pro t ection Agen cy 14 45 Ross A venue Dalla s, Texa
s 75202-2733

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**·** 6WQ-A ............6 IQ-C ............... **WQ h~.f/.4~** 

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. Re
: Water Quali ty Certificati

on for E PA NPDES Vessel Gener al P er mit for Discharges
In cid ental

t o the Normal Op e ration of V esse ls and fo rEPA NPDES Small Ve ssel General Permit for Dischar
ges In c idental

t o the Normal Operation of Vessel
s less than 79 fee
t Dear Mr. Honk er, We have received

y our reque

s t f or a Water Quality Ce rti fication

un der Section 40
I of th e Fed era l Water Pollution Con trol Act (Public Law P.L. 92-500)

,as ame nd ed by th e Cl ean Wat er Act of 19 77 ( P .L. 95-2
1 7 ) ,f or a ctiv iti es t o be p ermitted und er the EPA N PDE S Vessel General
P e rmit for Dis c harg es Incid e ntal to th e Normal Operation of Ves sels (VGP) an d Small Vessel Gene ral Permit for Dischar gesI nc idental to th e Normal Operat

i on of Vessels less than 7 9 fee
l (s VGP). D epa rtm e nt of E n vir o nm e ntal Q uali ty ( DEQ) rul es gove rning 40 I Water Qua lity Ce rtification are contained in Oklahoma Admi nist rat iv e Code (OAC) 252:611-3

-1 t hr ough 252:611-3-6 pursua nt to 27A O.S. 2-6 -1 03( C)(2 ). For copi es of the DEQ rul es and
r eg ulations

r ela ted
t o the 40 I procedures

,pl e ase contact the D E Q O ffic e of C itizen
s Assistance
at (800) 869-1400 /( 405) 702-1077 or access
it online at www.deq.state.ok.u

s/ rules/611.pdf. We have

r eviewed the draft permit s, fact sheet s, an d o ther rel evant information whi
l e devel opi ng this c ertification and ex amining the wat ers and water

sh e d s designated
in Oklahoma Water Qua
l ity Standards ( OWQS) as Hig h Quality Waters (HQW), Sensitive Public and Priva

t e Water Su pply (SWS)

,and Areas with Waters of R e creatio
nal and/or Eco lo gical Si g nifican ce list ed in Table

1 of App en dix B in OWQS (Appendi

xB wa t ers)

.HQW and SWS waters and wate
r sh eds are li s ted in Appendix
A of OWQS

( July

I ,20 II)

.HQW, SWS a nd Appendix
B wa ter s are prohibit ed from having new dis cha rge s or in cre ased

l oading from exi s ting discharges
if they would

l o wer ex i sting wat er quality

o r i n t er fe r e with the waters'

r ec reati ona
l an d e colo gi ca l si gnificance (OAC 785:45-5-25

,OAC 785:46-

1 3-4. OAC 78 5:4 6-1 3- 6, a nd OA C 785:46-13-5). Afte r ca reful consideration
of t h e nature of di scha rg es that wi ll b e co ver e d und er the propo se d VGP and sVGP i n HQW,
S WS and A pp e ndix B wat ers, we have d e termin ed that the incidenc es and frequency of dischar
g es from

s uch vesse

l s are
l ow, th e di sc har ges are generally

on -go ing
,a nd the discharges
ar e unlikely to l owe r water q ua lity or inte r fere w ith maintaining recreational and ecological

s ignificance. Therefore, dischar ges ma y be Ce rtified in HQW

,SWS

,and Appendi

xB wat e rs with no c ondit ion s . W e have al s o exami ne d Outstanding

R eso urc e Wat ers (ORW
). ORW are designated
in Appendix
A of OWQS (Jul yI ,20 I I) a nd are
l i ste d in Attachment

1 as Tier 3 areas. U nd er OWQS

,ORW
ar e prohibit

e d from havin g an y new po i nt source di sc harge
s of any pollutant

or increa sed load of any pollutant

f r om ex i sting point so urc e d i sc harges (OAC 785 :4 5-5-25 and OAC 785: 46- 13 -5)

.Ther efo r e the Certificati on for th e pro pose d VGP
an d sVG P in ORW is de nied. 707 tlORTH ROBINSON,
P .O .BOX 1677, **OKL~HOMA**CITY, OKLAHOMA 73101

-1677 p r i n ted on r ec yc

l ed p ape
r with soy ink 0Pag2 2 U.S. Envi ronme nt a l P rotect io n Agency EPA N P DES Ve sse l Ge n e r al Permit

a nd Small Vessel Gene ral P ermit In accor d ance wit h O klah oma Water Quali ty Sta nd a rd s (OAC 785

: 45-5-25, and OAC
7 85:46

- 1 3-5), W ater Qua lity Ce rtificati
o n for the propo se d VGP an d sVGP is d enied for any new di s charg es to any waterbody d es i g na ted a Sceni c River or O RW in the OW QS o r to any water
s of t h e State lo cated within its watershed.
A ny discharg es exis tin g prior

t o June

1 1, 19 89 a r e allowed provided ther e i s no increased

l oad of any pollutant di s char ge d . Permi ttee s that are exi s tin g d ischa rge r s in ORW m u st do c ument

t h e ir eligibility as a n existin
g discharger

a nd h ow they will compl y with the

" n o increased

l oa ding
" r es tricti on. Prior

t o see kin g coverage under th e p erm it , this docum
e ntation mu st b e s ubmitt ed t o DEQ for a d ete r m i nati o n tha t th e discha

r ge i s eligible for cov e ra g e. Thi s documentat ion and the DEQ
d e terminati

o n s hall be maint
a i ned with the other record

s required to be kep t as specified under Part 4 of the V G P , Part 3 of th e s VGP

, and the Ok l a hom a Vessel

a nd Motor R egis trati on Ac t (63 O.S. 4035). These re co r ds s hall be available up o n request to St ate a nd Fede ral ln s pector

s . If a N o tice of Int e nt (NOl) is req u ir ed, a copy of th e DEQ d eter minati on s hall be s ubmitt ed with

t he NO I. This Ce rt ifi ca tion a p p lies only to vessel discharges required to b e permitt ed by th e VGP and sYGP. R ecrea tion al v ess els , e v e n with in ORW

, are no t affec ted by this Permit or Certification. The D EQ rese rve s the ri g ht t o rev oke or r evise thi s Ce rtifi ca ti on pending the
i ss uance of a final p ermit. T o co mply with Oklah
o ma Water Qual ity Stand
a rds, the cu rrent cond ition s in the draft permi

t - ot h er t han th ose noted ab ove

- mu st remain as s trin gent as th ey exist in the dra ft E PA permit

s ubmi tte d to DEQ on D ece mber1 9, 2012

. The contact per son rega rdin g the eligibility det erm inati o n s in th e DEQ

i s: D r . E len a Jigo ulina W a ter Qu ali ty Divi sio n Ok lahoma De p art m ent o f Environmen

t al Quality P.O. Box 1677 Oklahoma

C ity , OK 731 01 - 1 677 ( 405) 7 0 2-8200 E l en a.J i goulin
a @deq .ok .g ov 

# S i r;J

Q

' **k**D e d chswe

i l e r , P . E Waters he d Pla nni ng and Storm Wat e r Permittin

g Water Q ual i ty D i vision cc: Dir ec tor
, Ok lahom
a Department of Wildlife Conserva

ti on Dir ecto r , U .S. Fish and Wildlife Servi ce, Tulsa De re k Smithee, Water Quality Programs Di vis i o n , O kla h oma Water R esou
r ces B oa rd Br oo ks T ra mell, Mo nitorin g, A ssessme nt and W e tlands Program
s, Oklahoma Co nse rvatio n Commission C l a udia Hosch, EPA Regi on 6 Tom Ba tes, Public Protection Uni t Ch i ef, Attorn
e y Gener
a l of OklahomaATTACHMENT

1 L i st of T i er 3 (Outstanding Resource Waters) (From Appendix
A of Oklahoma Water Quality Standards, OWRB, July 1, 2011). Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW) include the following: Flint Creek (all) in Adai

r County and the follow ing tribu

t ary: Sager Creek; (2) Illinois River upstream from the confluence of the Barren Fork east to the Arkansas State Line, and the following tributaries: Tah

l equah Creek and Ballard Creek; (3) Barren (Baron) Fork River from its confluence with the Illinois Riv er, upstream to the Arkansas State Line, and the following t ributaries: Tyner C r eek, Dennison Hollow, Peacheater

C r eek, Scraper Hollow, England Hollo w, Green Creek, She ll Branch, and E vansville Creek; (4) Lee Cree k - upstream from the 420 feet above mean sea level (msl) elevation to t h e Arkansas State Line, and the following tributaries: Webbers Creek and Briar Creek (Bear Creek); (5) Little Le e Creek and the following tributary: Jenkin
s C r eek; (4) Mountain Fork River upstream of t he 600 feet above (ms l) elevat

i on to the Arkansas State Line, and the following tributaries: Boktuklo Creek, B lue Creek, Big Eag

l e Creek, Little Ea gle Creek, Cucumber Creek, Beech (Beach) Creek, Cow Creek, and Panther Creek.

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