From: Wyels, Philip@Waterboards
To: VonVacano, Marcela
Cc: Hashimoto, Janet ; Fleck, Diane ; Rasmussen, Rik@Waterboards Subject: RE: EPA selenium proposal
Date: Monday, April 11, 2016 6:01:35 PM

Hi, MarcellaI have discussed this with the State Water Board’s Chief Counsel, and we have agreed that the State Water Board’s Compliance Schedule Policy definitely does apply to EPA’s proposed rule. I will be in Southern California tomorrow working on other issues. How soon do you need our letter with this
conclusion?
Phil

Philip G. Wyels Assistant Chief Counsel, State Board Water Quality Unit
State Water Resources Control Board
1001 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 341-5178 (phone) (916) 341-5199 (fax) Philip.Wyels@waterboards.ca.gov

From: VonVacano, Marcela [mailto:VonVacano.Marcela@epa.gov] Sent: Monday, April 11, 2016 4:47 PM To: Wyels, Philip@Waterboards Cc: hashimoto.janet@epa.gov; Fleck, Diane Subject: RE: EPA selenium proposal

Phil,

Could you please tell me the status of the letter from California regarding the applicability of the 2008 Compliance Schedule Policy to our upcoming proposed selenium rule, a new CTR criterion? The EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, Joel Beauvois, raised this issue so we need to respond

asap.

Thanks a lot,

Marcela von Vacano U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Regional Counsel Office of Regional Counsel
75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105 vonvacano.marcela@epa.gov tel. (415) 972-3905fax (415) 947-3570

This email may contain deliberative, attorney-client, attorney work product or otherwise privileged material. Do not release under FOIA without appropriate review. If this email has been received by you in error, you are instructed to delete it from your machine and all storage media whether electronic or hard copy.

From: VonVacano, Marcela
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 1:30 PM
To: Philip G. Wyels ( philip.wyels@waterboards.ca.gov ) < philip.wyels@waterboards.ca.gov > Subject: EPA selenium proposal



### Hi, Phil,

As discussed, I am sending you a summary of EPA’s planned proposal, scheduled for publication around June 30, 2016. Please let me know if you need more information for a letter from the State clarifying that the California 2008 Compliance Schedule Policy would apply to this new criteria in the CTR. Specifically, the process will involve deleting the existing
marine and estuarine selenium criteria in the NTR and adding new selenium criteria for aquatic life and aquatic-dependent wildlife in the San Francisco Bay and Delta in the CTR.

EPA is preparing a proposal to revise the current federal Clean Water Act selenium water quality criteria applicable to the San Francisco Bay and Delta to ensure that the criteria are set at levels that protect aquatic life and aquatic-dependent wildlife, including federally listed threatened and endangered species.

The anticipated basis for the proposal would be that t he San Francisco Bay and Delta ecosystem is at risk due to environmental degradation and state and federal actions are underway to restore the waterway. Numerous factors, including elevated levels of pollutants such as selenium, have contributed to its poor health. Scientific evidence indicates that elevated selenium levels can contribute to the decline of fish and aquatic-dependent birds. EPA promulgated the San Francisco Bay and Delta’s existing selenium criteria in 1992 as part of the National Toxics Rule, using EPA’s recommended aquatic life criteria values at the time. However, the latest science on selenium fate and bioaccumulation indicates that the existing criteria may not be protective of aquatic life and aquatic-dependent wildlife in the San Francisco Bay and Delta.

Therefore, EPA is preparing a proposal to revise the existing selenium criteria by amending the California Toxics Rule, taking into account available science, legal requirements, EPA policies, and guidance. The new criteria would protect species that live in and use the San Francisco Bay and Delta, and assist with restoration efforts.

Marcela von Vacano U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyAssistant Regional Counsel Office of Regional Counsel
75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105 vonvacano.marcela@epa.gov tel. (415) 972-3905 fax (415) 947-3570

This email may contain deliberative, attorney-client, attorney work product or otherwise privileged material. Do not release under FOIA without appropriate review. If this email has been received by you in error, you are instructed to delete it from your machine and all storage media whether electronic or hard copy.