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) 972-3905
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.

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 the 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 Agency
Assistant 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.