T H E STATE of ALASKA GOVERNOR SEAN PARNELL Mr. Michael
A. Bussell Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, Suite 900 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region
10 1200 Sixth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101
Department

of Environmental Conservation DIVISION
OF WATER Wastewater Discharge Authorization Program September

28, 2012

555 Cordova Street Anchorage, Alaska 99501 Main

: 907.269.6285 Fax: 907.269.3487 DEC File No: 920.48

. 007 RE: Alaska Department

of Environmental Conservation Fina

l Section 401 Certification for the Small Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental

to the Normal Operation ofVessels Less Than 79 Feet in Length Dear Mr. Bussell: On November 30,2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public noticed

a draft of the Small Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental

to the Normal Operation ofVessels (sVGP). This National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit regulates discharges to the waters of the United States
ex
t ending
to the three-mile demarcation

of the territorial seas and inland or coastal waters of the State of Alaska from any non

- recreational, non-military vessels less than 79 feet in length that are operating

in the capacity
of providing transportation. The Alaska Department

of Environmental Conservation (DEC or the Department)

has reviewed EPA's draft 2013 sVGP and supporting
fact sheet, along with EPA's request for DEC's Section 401 certification

of the 2013 sVGP. The Department certifies that there

is reasonable assurance that the activities and the resulting discharges

are in compliance with the requirements

of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which includes the Alaska Water Quality Standards codified

in 18 AAC 70, provided that the terms and conditions

of the enclosed certification

are adhered

to

. On page 45 of the sVGP fact sheet, EPA states "The sVGP merely authorizes point source discharges that previously existed but were unregulated

by EPA's NPDES regulations." Because discharges pre-existed
and issuing the sVGP should not result
in lowering water quality, but rather should improve the quality of the effluent discharged, EPA determined that an antidegredation review

is not triggered

. Based on DEC's concurrence with EPA's assessment that the lowering
of water quality

is not expected

as a result of the newly implemented permitting requirements, DEC has determined

an antidegradation review

is not required
for this Section 401 certification.Mr. Michael
A. Bussell

2

September

28, 201
2 Department regulations provide that any person who disagrees with this decision may

r eques

t an informal review by the Division
of Water Director

in accordance with 18 AAC 15.

1 85 or adjudicatory hearing

in accordance with 18 AAC
15

. 195

- 18 AAC 15.340. An informal review request must be delivered

to the Division
of Water Director, 555 Cordova Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 within
15 days after receiving this permit decision. An adjudicatory hearing request must be delivered

to the Conunissioner

of the Department

of Environmental Conservation, 410 Willoughby Street, Suite 303,Juneau,
AK 99811, within 30 days after the date of this permit decision.

If a hearing

is not requested within 30 days, the right to appeal

is waived. By virtue of this letter, we are advising EPA of our actions and enclosing

a copy of the final Section 401 certificate
for their use. If you have any questions regarding this final Section 401 certification, please contact Wade Strickland

at wade.strickland

@ alaska.

g ov

. Wade Strickland Program Manager Enclosure: Final Section 401 Certificate

of Reasonable Assurance cc: via e-mail Ms

. Lynn]. Tomich Kent, DEC/ ANC Ms. Michelle Bonnet, DEC/ ANC Mr. Andrew Sayers-Fay, DEC/ ANC Ms. Sharon Morgan, DEC/JUN Mr. Robert Edwardson, DEC/JUN Mr. Gerry Brown, DEC/ ANC Ms. Ruth Hamilton Heese, AK AG Office/JUN Mr

. Mike Lidgard/EPA Region
10 Ms. Diane Soderlund, EPA Region

10 Ms. Hanh Shaw, EPA Region

10 Ms. Cindi Godsey, EPA Region 10/ANC F inal Se c uon 401 C ertifi

c ate

s VG P

## STATE OF ALASKA DEPARTMENT

OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION FINAL SECTION
401 CERTIFICATE

OF REASONABLE ASSURANCE SMALL VESSEL GENERAL PERMIT A Certificate

of Reasonable Assurance (certification),

as required
by Section 401 of the Clean Water Act ( C W A), was requested

by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region

1 0 for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Small Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental

to the Normal Operation

of Vessels Less Than 79 Feet (sVGP)
on December

15, 2011.
A certification

is required
for the proposed activities because the activit

i es will be authorized

by an EPA NPDES general permit and result
in discharges

to waters ofthe United States located

in the State of Alaska. The sVGP covers incidental discharge

to waters of the United States resulting fromnonrecreational, non-military vessels less than 79 feet in length operating commercially

in a capacity as a means of transportation.
Due to the nature of vessel discharges, EPA determined that deriving numeric limits are not practicable,
and consequently derived permit limitations that are technology-based,

best management practices (BMPs) developed through best professional judgment

as authorized under CWA 402(a)(1) and 40 CFR 125.3. These BMPs are designed

to minimize
the discharge

of pollutants associated with activities that are incidental

to normal vessel operation

. The applicable BMPs are developed according

to the following

1 0 management areas
as described

in the sVGP: • General Management • Fuel Management • Engine Oil Control • Solid and Liquid Waste Management • Deck Washdown
and Runoff and Above Water Line Hull Cleaning • Vessel Hull Maintenance • Graywater • Fish Hold Effluent • Ballast Water • Seawater Cooling Overboard Discharge

. The Department reviewed
the EPA draft NPDES permit and certifies that, upon compliance with specified conditions, there
is reasonable assurance that the limitations

are in compliance with the requirements

of Section 401 ofthe CWA, which includes the Alaska Water Quality Standards (WQS), codified

in 18 AAC 70

. Through this certification

, in accordance with 18 AAC 15.120 Adoption ofNPDES Permits, the final NPDES permit will constitute
the permit required under Alaska Statue (AS) 46.03

. 100 Waste Disposal Permit, provided that the terms and conditions

of the final certification

are made part of the final NPDES Permit.

T he Department

is specifying
the following permit terms and conditions under authority

of AS 46.03.110(d). Draft Section 401
C ertificate sVGPTerms1)ThisSection401certificationshallbecomeeffectiveonthedatewhenEPA'sfinalsVGPbecomeseffective.2)IftheDepartmentdeterminesthatvesseldischargescoveredundertheVGPcannotcomplywiththetermsandconditionsofthiscertificationorWQS,thenthiscertificationmaybemodifiedtoincludedifferentterms,conditions,orrequirementsconsistentwithapplicablelaws,regulations,orjudicialorders.TheDepartmentwillpublicnoticesubstantialproposedmodificationstothiscertification.Insignificanttechnicalcorrectionsorclarificationstothiscertification(e.g.,typos)willnotbepublicnoticed.3)Allterms,requirements,limitations,andrestrictionsspecifiedinthisSection401certification shallbeincludedinPart5ofthesVGPandshallbeprimarilyenforcedbyEPAthroughthesVGP.4)EPAshalldirectandensuresVGPpermitteesundertakeimmediatecorrectiveactionstomitigatenoncompliancewithanyterms,stipulations,limitations,orrestrictionsspecifiedinthisSection401certification.TheseactionsshallnotprecludeDECfromtakingenforcementactionauthorizedbyAlaskalaw.5)ForviolationsthatoccurwithinStatewaters,permitteesshallnotifyandprovideDECelectroniccopiesofanynoncompliancereportsrequiredunder40CFR122.44(i)(5).Conditions1)AlldischargesauthorizedbythesVGPtowatersoftheUnitedStatesextendingtothethree-miledemarcationoftheterritorialseasandinlandorcoastalwatersoftheStateofAlaskashallnotresultinaviolationofAlaskawaterqualitycriteria,foundin18AAC70,inthewaterbody.Rationale:VesseloperatorsmustimplementtheBMPsinthesVGPtothedegreenecessarytoensuredischargescomplywiththeapplicablewaterqualitycriteriaforthesubjectwaterbody.2)PermitteescoveredunderthesVGPshallundertakeimmediatecorrectiveactionstomitigatenoncomplianceorviolationswithanytermsorconditionsspecifiedinthisSection401certification.EPA'sregulationsofvesselsundertheVGPshallnotprecludeDECfromregulatingvesselsortakingenforcementactionauthorizedbyAlaskalaw.Rationale:EPAistheprimaryauthorityresponsibleforensuringcompliancewiththeEPA-issuedsVGP.However,theDepartmentdoesnotwaivetheirrightstoregulatevesselsandortakeenforcementactioninaccordancewithAlaskalaw.3)Permitteesmustbeawareofthestatusofthewaterbodiestheyaretravelingthrough,specificallywhetherthewaterbodiesareimpairedandhave,ordonothave,anEPAapprovedTotalMaximumDailyLoadimplementationplanpreparedunderCWA303(d).FinalSection401CertificatesVGPRationale:

The location of impaired waters of the United

S t ates must be known prior
to the discharge activity. The permittees
are responsible
for identifying areas where discharges
are prohibited, including accessing CWA 303 (d) list of impaired waters
or the State's most current Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report. 

### Se¢-eM

b er **ao1 ~**  Date



# &~ Wade Strickland, Program Manager F inal Section 401 C ertificat

e s VGP