UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

Mr. RobenlGng 

Deputy Commissioner 

SEP 12 2007 

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmeatal Control 

And President, Environmental Council of the States 

2600 Bull Street 

Columbia, SC 29201 

Mr. Mike Linder 

Director 

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality 

And Chair, ECOS Compliance Committee 

1200 N Street, Suite 400 

Lincoln, NE 68508 

Dear Mr. King and Mr. Linder, 

OFFICE OF 

ENFOACEM&NT AND 

COI.U'UANCI! ASSURANCE 

This lencr is to update you and the Envi.roomental Council of States on the status of the three 

draft enforcement policies on which EPA requested state comments on Apri130, 2007. We 

appreciate the time and effort that states took to consider each of the policies and to articulate to 

EPA their thoughts and concerns. All three policies (the Clean Water Act National Pollutant 

Discharge Elimination System lnspeaion Frequency Guidance for the Core Program and Wet 

Weather Sources or the CMS Ouidance; EPA ':t Interim SigniflcanJ Noncompliance Policy for 

Clean Water ACl Violations Associated with CSOs, SSOs, CAFOs. and Storm Water Point 

Sources or the WW SNC Policy; and the ICJS-NPDES Policy Stalenumt) will benefit from the 

robust and d~c dialoaue EPA and the states have had on these topics. 

After carefully considcrin& the breadth and scope of state and regional comments, OECA has 

determined that each of the three policies needs to Jbllow a different course. This letter is to 

briefly explain the genc:ral direction that OECA plans to take with each policy. Lynn Buhl, my 

Deputy Assistant Administrator tmd Lisa Lund. my Deputy in the Office of Compliance, both 

plan to attend the Compliance Committee session at the upcoming ECOS meeting in Idaho and 

will be prepared to outline this approach and listen to the star.es' perspective. 

As EPA lw explained, these policies are important in keeping the enforcement and information 

management compooenlll of the NPDES program in alignmc:11t with the eunent NPDES program 

regulatory structorc. The fact that the NPDES program bas evolved to include important wet 

weather pollution so\UCCS has driven the need for the enforcement program to ~e its policies. 

EPA undcl'SUIDds the states' need for maximum flexibility and has tried to balance that need with 

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the fedeTal need for consistency in how these issues are handled on a national level. We believe 

the approaclt outlined below addresses that balance. 

The folloWing outlines EPA's approl!Ch to issuing the three policies: 

CMS Gaida nee: Both the Pemrittiog for Enviro~ental Results and the State Review 

Framework reviews pinpointed the need to revisit the inspection frequency goals set in the 

Enforcement Management System (EMS) written in 1989. OECA worked closely with the 

Association of State and Interstate WaJtc Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) to 

develop a new set of inspection goals that addresses the complete universe of sources while 

allowing states flexibility needed to tailor inspection str4lc:J,lics to their unique circumstances. 

OECA has accommodated many of the comments that states and regions have made in the 

review peliods of this policy, which have improved the clarity of the document and increased the 

flexibilities the CMS now offers. OECA will finalize the CMS Guidance by the cod of 

September, 2007. This guidance may be utilized in FY2008 if a state wishes to negotiate the · 

flexlbilities available in the guidaDce with their region. but will be fully effective in the FY2009 

planning cycle. Regions will be asked to be open to begin implementation of the gui.daDce in 

FY2008 If a state so requests. 

WW SNC Pollsy: The Wet WeatMr SNC Policy supplements the 1986 NPDES SNC Policy by 

including cri~ for identifying significant violations related to CSOs, SSOs, CAFOs and stonn 

water, thus providing a more comprehensive enforcement management tool for today's NPDES 

program. A critical part of implementing this policy includes the ability to track and manage the 

identification of ~lations and follow--up actions by EPA and states on ,a national level. The 

draft Policy, however, did not identify the related data elc:mcnts that are critical to tracldng and 

managing these activities, as it relied on a small subset of the data elements set out in the Requisite ICIS-NPDES Data Elements (RIDE) iD, the draft ICIS-NPDES Policy Statement. 

Because of the multi--step approach EPA is taki.og to resolve ICIS.NPDES Policy Stat,cmcnt 

issues (see below), OECA will be initially issuing the WW SNC Policy only at the federal level 

by the end of September 2007. OECA will W<>rk with the EPA regions to detemline tracking and 

necessary data entry for federal implementation. OECA welcomes any state's Interest in piloting 

the WW SNC Policy, aDd recommends that those states contact and work through their regions. 

OECA would be happy to woik with those interested states on dam and trackini issues for the pilots. EPA will continue to woxk with the ASIWPCA State-EPA Advisory Committee that 

helped to develop the WW SNC Policy on the appropriate data elements to track and manage the national implc:mcnta1ioo of this Policy prior to i$$uing the Policy to states. 

ICJS-NPDES PoUSY S!!tement: EPA UI1dentands the states' concerns about the draft policy 

statemcm and therefore bas developed an approW1 that will allow us to provide the I)tcessary guidance to the direct user states already using ICIS-NPDES while allowing us additional time to 

work on issues concerning what new data to exchange and bow to exchange it. Because there 

are cuncntly 21 states, 2 Tn'bc:s and 9 Territories that directly use IC NPDES; 9 hybrid states 

(that use ICIS-NPDES but also balch SOIDC data to PCS); and 23 full batch stales (that use their 

own data system and send data to PCS), it is critical that whatever approach is taken ensures &.ir 

and equal tmmnent of all st3teS, regardless of what system they use. as well as the continuance 

of a consistent national data set. for the NPDES program. 
OECA's approach will be a mnlti-step process: 

1. ~A wil~ursue a ~making a~roach that will identifY a full set ofRJDE that 

unplementmg agencLeS of the NP ES progtam wW be rtqabtd to ptovtde to ffiC national 

program. 

2. Concum:ntly, EPA will issue an interim revised scy s1atcment for direct usgs that 

requires those Stat.eii tO proVide the WENDB eqUi ent of RIDE to EPA. thus simply 

extending the PCS Policy statement to ciurcnt users of !he new system. 

3. EPA will continue to w«k on the XML schema for DMRs with the In~ Projeyt 

team ~ consisting of states and EPA, which should allow the fitSi hybn"11 state to 

bCgili moving to IClS-NPDES in the Spring of200S. At that point, hybrid stat.cs will be 

required to providelhe WENDB equivalent ofRIDE to EPA, simllar to the direct user 

stat.es. EPA will atso·continue to work with Texas 4nd the other 10 states to complete 

NctDMR, the tool that wm allow facilities to submit DMR infonnation electronically 

through the Exchange Network and the Central Data Exchange. 

4. For those full batch~ that want to begin data mapping to ICIS-NPDES before the 

fmallClS-NPDES Policy Srmement is available, an existing draft ICIS-NPDES XML 

schema for RIDE is available. If a 5t8le wants to prioritize which data elements to start 

- With1 EPA recomm:eoas theDMR data family and then the WENDB subset of RIDE. 

S. EPA will continue to work with full batch states through the IPT to resolve bow da1a will 

be electronically flowed to ICJS..NPDES. EPA invites ·any interested full ba.tcll state to 

participate. 

The implememation of these policies will depend upon continuing communicalion aod 

collaboration between the national programs, regions and states. OECA looks forward to this 

continuing dialogue and to the achievement of a better environment through our combined 

efforts. 

eel Steven Brown, ECOS 

Mazy Blakeslee, ·ocos 

Lind& Eichmiller, ASIWPCA 

Sean Rolland. ASIWPCA 

Sincerely, 

t;~ t;./1~~·~ ~ Y. ~ak.ayama Assistant Administrator