I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3299

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to allow certain States,

including the territories of the United States, to apply for waivers from

secondary treatment requirements for certain ocean discharges, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 23, 1996

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́ (for himself and Mr. UNDERWOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to allow

certain States, including the territories of the United

States, to apply for waivers from secondary treatment

requirements for certain ocean discharges, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deep Water Outfall

5 Treatment Systems Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) States that are insular areas, including the

2 territories of the United States, have geographical,

3 geological, and marine characteristics and island en4 vironments.

5 (2) The Federal Water Pollution Control Act

6 should, consistent with the environmental goals of

7 the Act, be administered with sufficient flexibility to

8 take into consideration the unique characteristics of

9 such States.

10 (3) Scientific evidence has demonstrated that

11 some deep water outfall water treatment systems

12 can protect marine environments as effectively as

13 secondary waste water treatment systems.

14 (4) Deep water outfalls can promote the envi15 ronmental goals of the Federal Water Pollution Con16 trol Act more cost effectively than secondary treat17 ment.

18 (5) The existing secondary treatment require19 ments of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

20 have yet to be fulfilled because of the

21 unreasonableness of some provisions as applied to

22 the States referred to in paragraph (1).

23 (6) Such States should be provided the oppor24 tunity to apply for a secondary treatment waiver for

25 new or proposed deep water outfalls under the exist-
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1 ing standards of the Federal Water Pollution Con2 trol Act.

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

4 The purpose of this Act is to allow certain States,

5 including each territory of the United States, to apply for

6 a waiver under section 301(h) of the Federal Water Pollu7 tion Control Act that would allow the State to construct

8 deep water outfalls and to meet the effluent standards of

9 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act more effectively,

10 efficiently, and expeditiously.

11 SEC. 4. WAIVERS FOR DEEP WATER OUTFALLS IN ELIGIBLE

12 STATES.

13 Section 301 of the Federal Water Pollution Control

14 Act (33 U.S.C. 1311) is amended by adding at the end

15 the following:

16 ‘‘(q) WAIVERS FOR DEEP WATER OUTFALLS IN ELI17 GIBLE STATES.—

18 ‘‘(1) STUDIES.—Not later than 3 months after

19 the date of the enactment of this subsection, an eli20 gible State may initiate, expand, or continue a study

21 of the marine environment of coastal areas to deter22 mine the feasibility of constructing a deep water

23 outfall for any of the publicly owned treatment

24 works in the eligible State that, on such date of en25 actment, uses primary treatments and is not exempt
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1 from the requirements of subsection (b)(1)(B). Such

2 study may recommend one or more technically fea3 sible locations for a deep water outfall that would

4 have beneficial effects on the marine environment.

5 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION FOR MODIFICATION.—Not6 withstanding subsection (j)(1)(A), not later than 18

7 months after the date of the enactment of this sub8 section, an application may be submitted for a modi9 fication pursuant to subsection (h) of the require10 ments of subsection (b)(1)(B) by the owner of a

11 publicly owned treatment works in an eligible State

12 at a location recommended in a study conducted

13 pursuant to paragraph (1).

14 ‘‘(3) INITIAL DETERMINATION.—On or before

15 the 90th day after the date of submittal of an appli16 cation for a modification under paragraph (2), the

17 Administrator shall issue to the applicant a draft

18 initial determination regarding the modification.

19 ‘‘(4) FINAL DETERMINATION.—On or before

20 the 270th day after the date of submittal of an ap21 plication for a modification under paragraph (2), the

22 Administrator shall issue a final determination re23 garding the modification.

24 ‘‘(5) EFFECTIVENESS.—If a modification is

25 granted pursuant to an application submitted under
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1 this subsection, such modification shall be effective

2 only if the new deepwater outfall is operational on

3 or before the date that is 5 years after the date of

4 the enactment of this subsection. In all other as5 pects, such modification shall be effective for the pe6 riod applicable to all modifications granted under

7 subsection (h).

8 ‘‘(6) PENDING APPLICATIONS.—The require9 ments of subsection (b)(1)(B) shall not apply to the

10 owner or operator of a publicly owned treatment

11 works in an eligible State that has submitted an ap12 plication for a modification under paragraph (2)

13 during the period beginning on the date of submis14 sion of the application and ending on the date of a

15 final determination under paragraph (4).

16 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol17 lowing definitions apply:

18 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘eligible

19 State’ means a State that is an insular area

20 and includes each territory of the United

21 States.

22 ‘‘(B) TERRITORY OF THE UNITED

23 STATES.—The term ‘territory of the United

24 States’ means all territories and possessions of

25 the United States, including the Commonwealth
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1 of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam,

2 American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana

3 Islands.’’.

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