Agenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 1 

### SEC Meeting Agenda December 7, 2010

The State Environmental Commission (SEC ) will hold a regulatory hearing on

December 7 th , 2010 at 9:30 am at the Nevada Department of Wildlife's Conference Room A, 1100 Valley Road , Reno, Nevada. The purpose of the hearing is to receive comments from all interested persons regarding the adoption, amendment, or repeal of the following regulatory petitions and

related SEC business.

1) Approval of minutes for 10/5/2010 SEC Regulatory Hearings * Action Item

2) Presentation by Bureau of Air Pollu tion Control regarding penalty matrix and table and their use in determining recommended penalties for air quality violations -- Non Action Item

3) Discussion regarding procedure for penalty assessments for air quality violations by State Environmental Commission -- Non Action Item

4) Penalty Assessments fo r Air Quality Violations * Action Items

a) Lake Tahoe Horizon Casino Resort — Penalty Assessments for Air Quality

Violations No. 2232 and 2252: failure to apply for a renewal of an air quality operating permit prior to expiration, continuing to operate without a valid permit, and failure to conduct emission compliance tests (source tests) required by an air qu ality operating permit (recommended penalty $38,100).

b) Eagle Peak Rock and Paving, Inc. — Penalty Assessments for Air Quality
Violations No. 2248, 2249, 2257 and 2258: failure to install water sprays and enclosures and failure to comply with permitted emission limits— exceeding the permitted emission limit for visual emissions during operation of sources PF1.014, PF1.016 and PF1.023 (recommended penalty $30,800).

c) Newmont Nevada Energy Investments, LLC — Penalty Assessments for Air Quality Violation No. 2226: Exceeding permitted emissions limits (PM10) on a coal-fired boiler as required by a Class I Air quality Operating Permit (recommended penalty $13,725).

d) Ames Construction, Inc. — Penalty Asse ssments for Air Quality Violations No. 2269, 2270 and 2271: operating with out a valid air quality operating permit, failing to report the throughput and operating hourAgenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 2 exceedances, and exceeding throughput and daily operating hour limits set in the air quality operating pe rmit (recommended penalty $11,550).



### Safe Drinking Water * Action Item

5) Arsenic Rule Extensions — Pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and Nevada laws and regulations (i .e., NRS 445A.935, & NAC 445A.490.5), the State Environmental Commission (SEC) has the authority to grant "extensions" to exemptions previously issued by th e SEC regarding the federally mandated standard for arsenic in drinking water (i.e., 10 parts per billion). In 2006 and 2007, the SEC granted sixty-four "exemption s" to water purveyors in Nevada to extend the timeline for compliance with the federal arsenic rule.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Safe Drinking Water (BSDW) has established criteria, ba sed on state regulations and U.S. EPA guidance, to screen exempted facilities for a possible two-year extension to the timeline for compliance with the arsenic rule.

Accordingly, at this meeting the SEC wi ll act on staff recommendations for, or against, a two-year extension of the ti meline for compliance with the federal

arsenic rule for a selected list of wate r purveyors in Nevada (see attached 1).



### Water Quality Planning * Action Item

6) R129-10: Water Quality Standards fo r Class D Waters & Removal of Legal

References for Certain Tribal Waters: This regulation proposes changes to Water Quality Standards for Class D waters and removal of Nevada

Administrative Code references to Tribal waters on the Fort McDermitt Indian

Reservation. When the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) updated the Class Waters to the E. coli bacteria standard in 2008, EPA required Nevada to perform an assessment of th e Class D waters, which do not have
contact recreation as a beneficial use, to determine if the waters would now meet the fishable/swimmable goal of th e Clean Water Act. NDEP is proposing

to add contact recreation and the associ ated bacterial water quality standard to four segments of the Class D waters.

The State of Nevada water quality regulations are not applicable to

waterbodies on tribal land s. As a sovereign nation, the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes are responsible for regulating the water quality of the

river within the boundaries of their land . Changes are proposed to the NAC to remove the segments of these reaches that are on tribal lands.

This regulation will not have an imme diate or long-term adverse economic impact on the public or the business community. There will be no additional costs to the agency for enforcement of the proposed re gulation and the regulation does not overlap, duplicate or conflict with any regulations of other government agencies. The regula tion does not address fees.Agenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 3 

### Administrative Services * Action Item

7) R115-10: Financial Assistance for Construction of Wastewater Treatment & Pollution Control Projects: This regulation would amend NAC 445A. Proposed revisions to the regulation gove rn financial assistance for construction of wastewater treatment & pollution control projects. Revisions to the regulation are intended to make the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund more consistent with prog ram elements such as the Division of Environmental Protection's Priority List and the Intended Use Plan.

The proposed revisions also remove the requirement that project design be completed prior to project funding. The removal of this requirement will allow communities, which cannot afford up fron t engineering cost, to utilize state revolving funds for such activities. The proposed regulation also removes confusing language for calculating fixed am ounts for planning and design costs.

This regulation will not have an imme diate or long-term adverse economic impact on the public or the business community. There will be no additional costs to the agency for enforcement of the proposed re gulation and the regulation does not overlap, duplicate or conflict with any regulations of other government agencies. The regula tion does not address fees.



### Air Quality Planning / Air Pollution Control * Action Item

8) T011-10: Air Pollution Control New Pu blic Notice Provisions For Class II

Air Permits: The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) is proposing to amend one section in th e air permitting provisions of NAC 445B, which deals with Class II permit applications. The proposed temporary regulation addresses public noticing requirements and the timeline for agency action on applications.

Specifically, the regulation would re quire the Director to act on all Class II permit applications within 60 days afte r the official date of submittal and would streamline the public notice timeline for Class II applications. It would require all new Class II air permit appl ications and all applications for a modification (to an existing Class II sour ce) that exceeds a certain threshold be made available for public notice. These regulatory changes re spond to U.S. EPA comments on the approvability of the ND EP’s public notice provisions into Nevada’s applicable State Implementati on Plan. The proposed amendments are necessary to align state regulations with the federal Clean Air Act and U.S. EPA rule requirements.

This temporary regulation will not have an immediate or long-term adverse economic impact on the public or the business community. The regulation does not overlap, duplicate or conflict with any regulations of other government agencies. There will be additional cost s to the NDEP to administer the new public notice provisions for all new permit applications and for allAgenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 4 modifications that exceed specified th resholds. The agency will bear these
costs, at this time; no new f ees are being proposed. (P2010-11)



### Other SEC Business

9) Administrator's Briefing to the Commission: Non-Action Item NDEP's Administrator will provide the Commission with informational updates about bill draft requests, NDEP’s mercur y regulatory program at the Hawthorne Ammunition Depot, and status of the new federal greenhouse gas regulation.

10) Public Comment: Non-Action Item Public comment may be limited to ten mi nutes per person at the discretion of the Chairperson. (See AG Open Meeting Law Manual, pages 58 & 81,
http://ag.state.nv.us/publ ications/manuals/omlmanual.pdf )

Additional Information Persons wishing to comment on th e proposed actions of the State Environmental Commission (SEC) may appear at the scheduled public hearing or may address their comments, data, views, or arguments in written form to:
State Environmental Commission, 901 Sout h Stewart Street, Suite 4001, Carson City, Nevada 89701-5249. The SEC must re ceive written submissions at least five days before the scheduled public hearing.

If no person who is directly affected by the proposed action appears to request time to make an oral presentation, the SEC may proceed immediately to act upon any written submissions.

Members of the public can inspect copies of the regulations to be adopted at the State Library and Archives in Carson City (100 Stewart Street), and at the offices of the Division of Environmental Protection in Carson City and Las Vegas. The Carson City office is locate d at 901 South Stewar t Street, Suite 4001 and the Las Vegas office is locate d at 2030 E. Flamingo Rd. Suite 230.

As required by the provisions of chap ters 233B and 241 of Nevada Revised Statutes, the public notice for this hearing was posted at the following locations: the Bryan Building (901 South Stewart Street, Carson City, Nevada);

the offices of the Division of Environm ental Protection in Las Vegas (2030 E. Flamingo Rd. Suite 230), at the State Libr ary and Archives building in Carson City (100 Stewart Street) and at the Neva da Department of Wi ldlife in Reno – 11 Valley Road.

In addition, copies of this notice have been deposited elec tronically at major library branches in each county in Neva da. This notice and the text of the proposed regulations are also available on the State Environmental

Commission's website at: http://www.sec.nv.gov/index.htm . All of the proposed regulations denoted in this notice, includ ing previous drafts, are also posted on the Legislative Counsel Bureau's website at: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/register/

.Agenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 5 Members of the public who are disabled and require special accommodations or assistance at the meeting are requested to notify, in writing, the Nevada State
Environmental Commission, in care of Jo hn B. Walker, Executive Secretary, 901
South Stewart Street, Suite 4001, Cars on City, Nevada 89701-5249, facsimile (775) 687-5856, or by calling (775) 687-9308, no later th an 5:00 p.m. on
November 29, 2010.

1 AttachmentAgenda – SEC Regulatory Hearing 12/07/2010 6