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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 115 (Tuesday, June 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34403-34407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14792]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2012-0803; FRL-9920-21-OW]

Final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 
General Permit for Stormwater Discharges From Industrial Activities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of final permit issuance.

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SUMMARY: The EPA's Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are issuing 
their final 2015 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 
(NPDES) general permit for stormwater discharges from industrial 
activity, also referred to as the Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP). 
This permit replaces the existing permit covering stormwater discharges 
from industrial facilities in the EPA's Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and 
10 that expired September 29, 2013, and provides coverage for 
industrial facilities in areas where the EPA is the NPDES permitting 
authority in the EPA's Regions 7 and 8. The MSGP consists of 44 
separate regional EPA general permits that may vary from each other 
based on state or tribal certifications and water quality-based 
requirements. As with earlier permits, this permit authorizes the 
discharge of stormwater associated with industrial activities in 
accordance with the terms and conditions described therein. Industrial 
dischargers have the option to instead seek coverage under an 
individual permit. An individual permit may be necessary if the 
discharger cannot meet the terms and conditions or eligibility 
requirements in this permit. The EPA is issuing this permit for five 
years.

DATES: The permit became effective on June 4, 2015. This effective date 
is necessary to provide dischargers with the immediate opportunity to 
comply with Clean Water Act requirements in light of the expiration of 
the 2008 MSGP on September 29, 2013. In accordance with 40 CFR part 23, 
this permit shall be considered issued for the purpose of judicial 
review on June 22, 2015. Under section 509(b) of the Clean Water Act, 
judicial review of this general permit can be requested by filing a 
petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals within 120 
days after the permit is considered issued. Under section 509(b)(2) of 
the Clean Water Act, the requirements in this permit may not be 
challenged later in civil or criminal proceedings to enforce these 
requirements. In addition, this permit may not be challenged in other 
agency proceedings. Deadlines for submittal of

[[Page 34404]]

notices of intent are provided in Part 1.2 of the 2015 MSGP. The 2015 
MSGP also provides additional dates for compliance with the terms of 
these permits.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the final 
NPDES MSGP, contact the appropriate EPA Regional Office listed in 
Section I.C., or Bryan Rittenhouse, EPA Headquarters, Office of Water, 
Office of Wastewater Management at tel.: 202-564-0577 or email: 
rittenhouse.bryan@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information is organized 
as follows:

Table of Contents

I. General Information
    A. Does this action apply to me?
    B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?
    C. Who are the EPA regional contacts for this final permit?
II. Background of Permit
III. Scope and Applicability of the Multi-Sector General Permit
    A. Geographic Coverage
    B. Categories of Facilities Covered
    C. Summary of Significant Changes From the 2008 Multi-Sector 
General Permit
IV. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and 
Executive Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
V. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian 
Tribal Governments
VI. Analysis of Economic Impacts

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This MSGP regulates stormwater discharges from industrial 
facilities in the 30 sectors shown below:

Sector A--Timber Products.
Sector B--Paper and Allied Products Manufacturing.
Sector C--Chemical and Allied Products Manufacturing.
Sector D--Asphalt Paving and Roofing Materials Manufactures and 
Lubricant Manufacturers.
Sector E--Glass, Clay, Cement, Concrete, and Gypsum Product 
Manufacturing.
Sector F--Primary Metals.
Sector G--Metal Mining (Ore Mining and Dressing).
Sector H--Coal Mines and Coal Mining-Related Facilities.
Sector I--Oil and Gas Extraction.
Sector J--Mineral Mining and Dressing.
Sector K--Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage or Disposal.
Sector L--Landfills and Land Application Sites.
Sector M--Automobile Salvage Yards.
Sector N--Scrap Recycling Facilities.
Sector O--Steam Electric Generating Facilities.
Sector P--Land Transportation.
Sector Q--Water Transportation.
Sector R--Ship and Boat Building or Repairing Yards.
Sector S--Air Transportation Facilities.
Sector T--Treatment Works.
Sector U--Food and Kindred Products.
Sector V--Textile Mills, Apparel, and other Fabric Products 
Manufacturing.
Sector W--Furniture and Fixtures.
Sector X--Printing and Publishing.
Sector Y--Rubber, Miscellaneous Plastic Products, and Miscellaneous 
Manufacturing Industries.
Sector Z--Leather Tanning and Finishing.
Sector AA--Fabricated Metal Products.
Sector AB--Transportation Equipment, Industrial or Commercial 
Machinery.
Sector AC--Electronic, Electrical, Photographic and Optical Goods.
Sector AD--Reserved for Facilities Not Covered Under Other Sectors and 
Designated by the Director.

    Coverage under the 2015 MSGP is available to operators of eligible 
facilities located in areas where the EPA is the permitting authority 
and has made this general permit available for use. A list of eligible 
areas is included in Appendix C of the 2015 MSGP.

B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?

    1. Docket. The EPA has established an official public docket for 
this action under Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OW-2012-0803. The official 
public docket is the collection of materials that are available for 
public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) 
WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, 
DC 20460. Although all documents in the docket are listed in an index, 
some information is not publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Publicly available docket materials are available in hard 
copy at the EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room, open from 8:30 a.m. 
to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744 and the 
telephone number for the Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the United States government on-line source for 
federal regulations at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Electronic versions of the final permit and fact sheet are 
available on the EPA's NPDES Web site at http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/npdes/stormwater/EPA-Multi-Sector-General-Permit-MSGP.cfm.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through the 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.regulations.gov to view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the official public docket, 
and to access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. For additional information about the EPA's public 
docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/dockets. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials at the EPA Docket Center.

C. Who are the EPA regional contacts for this final permit?

    For EPA Region 1, contact David Gray at tel.: (617) 918-1577 or 
email at gray.davidj@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 2, contact Sergio Bosques at tel.: (787) 977-5838 or 
email at bosques.sergio@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 3, contact Kaitlyn Bendik at tel.: 215-814-2709 or 
email at bendik.kaitlyn@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 5, contact Brian Bell at tel.: (312) 886-0981 or 
email at bell.brianc@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 6, contact Nasim Jahan at tel.: (214) 665-7522 or 
email at jahan.nasim@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 7, contact Mark Matthews at tel. 913-551-7635 or 
email at matthews.mark@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 8, contact Gregory Davis at tel.: (303) 312-6314 or 
email at davis.gregory@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 9, contact Eugene Bromley at tel.: (415) 972-3510 or 
email at bromley.eugene@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 10, contact Margaret McCauley at tel.: (206) 553-
1772 or email at mccauley.margaret@epa.gov.

II. Background of Permit

    Section 405 of the Water Quality Act of 1987 added section 402(p) 
of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which directed the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a phased approach to regulate 
stormwater discharges under the National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System (NPDES) program. The EPA published a final 
regulation on the first phase on this program on November 16, 1990, 
establishing permit application requirements for ``stormwater 
discharges associated with industrial activity.'' See 55 FR 48063. The 
EPA defined the term ``stormwater discharge associated with industrial 
activity'' in a comprehensive manner to cover a wide variety of 
facilities. See 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14). The EPA is issuing

[[Page 34405]]

the MSGP under this statutory and regulatory authority. The 2015 MSGP 
replaces the 2008 MSGP covering stormwater discharges from industrial 
facilities in the EPA's Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 10 that expired 
September 29, 2013, and provides coverage for industrial facilities in 
areas where the EPA is the NPDES permitting authority in the EPA's 
Regions 7 and 8.
    Dischargers choosing to be covered by the MSGP must certify in 
their Notice of Intent (NOI) that they meet the requisite eligibility 
requirements described in Part 1 of the permit. In addition, 
dischargers must install and implement control measures to meet the 
effluent limits required in Part 2 and any sector-specific effluent 
limits in Part 8, and develop a stormwater pollution prevention plan 
(SWPPP) consistent with Part 5 describing their control measures used 
to achieve the effluent limits. The MSGP requires dischargers to 
conduct routine facility inspections (Part 3.1) and quarterly visual 
assessments of stormwater discharges (Part 3.2). Dischargers are also 
required to review and revise, as necessary, their SWPPP in order to 
meet the permit's effluent limits when certain triggering conditions 
occur (Part 4). Dischargers subject to benchmark monitoring are 
required to submit to the EPA quarterly benchmark monitoring results 
(Part 6.2.1). The EPA notes that Part 6.2.1 emphasizes that the 
benchmark thresholds used for monitoring are not effluent limits 
themselves, but rather information that is primarily for the use of the 
industrial facility to determine the overall effectiveness of its 
control measures and to assist in understanding when corrective 
action(s) may be necessary. Where applicable, dischargers must also 
submit to the EPA stormwater effluent data relating to impaired waters 
(Part 6.2.4) and compliance with numeric effluent limitations 
guidelines (Part 6.2.2). In addition, dischargers are required to 
submit an annual report containing permit compliance information 
generated from the past calendar year (Part 7.5).

III. Scope and Applicability of the Multi-Sector General Permit

A. Geographic Coverage

    The 2015 MSGP provides coverage for sectors of industrial point 
source discharges that occur in areas not covered by an approved state 
or tribal NPDES program. The geographic coverage of the 2015 MSGP is 
listed in Appendix C of the permit, and includes the states of Idaho, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Mexico as well as all Indian 
Country lands (except in Region 4), and facilities operated by a 
federal operator in selected states. Permit coverage is also provided 
in Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the Pacific Island 
territories. The EPA notes that, unlike the 2008 MSGP, facilities 
located in certain areas in the EPA's Regions 7 and 8 may be covered by 
this permit.
    Because certifications required by Section 401 of the Clean Water 
Act were not received in time, operators of industrial facilities in 
the following areas are not yet eligible for coverage under the 2015 
MSGP:
     The State of Idaho (except Indian country);
     The State of Washington (except Indian country) if 
operated by a federal operator; and
     Spokane Tribe of Indians lands.
    The EPA will announce the availability of coverage under the 2015 
MSGP for these areas in separate Federal Register notice(s) as soon as 
possible after the certifications are completed. In the meantime, 
existing dischargers in these areas that were authorized for coverage 
under the 2008 MSGP will remain covered under the 2008 MSGP until the 
2015 MSGP has been issued. Once the permit is available, existing 
dischargers will be given 90 days to file an NOI for coverage under the 
2015 MSGP.

B. Categories of Facilities Covered

    This permit regulates stormwater discharges from industrial 
facilities in 30 sectors, as shown above in section I.A.

C. Summary of Significant Changes from the 2008 Multi-Sector General 
Permit

    The 2015 MSGP replaces the 2008 MSGP, which was issued for a five-
year term on September 29, 2008 (see 73 FR 56572) and expired September 
29, 2013. The 2015 MSGP is similar to the 2008 MSGP, and is structured 
in nine parts: General requirements that apply to all facilities (e.g., 
eligibility of discharges, effluent limitations, stormwater pollution 
prevention plan (SWPPP) requirements, monitoring and reporting 
requirements) (Parts 1-7), industrial sector-specific conditions (Part 
8), and specific requirements applicable to facilities within 
individual states or Indian country (Part 9). Additionally, the 
appendices provide forms for the submittal of a paper Notice of Intent, 
Notice of Termination, Conditional No Exposure Exclusion, Discharge 
Monitoring Report, and annual report, as well as step-by-step 
procedures for determining eligibility with respect to protecting 
historic properties and threatened and endangered species, and for 
calculating site-specific, hardness-dependent benchmarks.
    This 2015 MSGP includes several new or modified requirements from 
the 2008 MSGP. These changes are summarized below and are discussed in 
more detail in the 2015 MSGP fact sheet.
    1. NEPA Review for Dischargers Subject to any New Source 
Performance Standards (NSPS). For the issuance of the 2015 MSGP, the 
EPA prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA)/finding of no significant 
impact (FONSI) that analyzed the potential environmental impacts of the 
permit. The EA considered the potential environmental impacts from the 
discharge of new source pollutants in stormwater discharges associated 
with industrial facilities where the EPA is the permitting authority 
(see the permit's docket for a copy of the EPA's EA and FONSI).
    2. Information Required for Notices of Intent. The 2015 MSGP 
revises the information required in NOIs to provide the EPA with more 
complete information to determine eligibility and to enable the EPA to 
inform the operator of its specific monitoring requirements. Operators 
now need to include in their NOI location information for each 
stormwater outfall they discharge from, whether the facility discharges 
to saltwater, the hardness of the receiving water (if subject to 
benchmark monitoring for metals), whether the facility discharges to a 
federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act (CERCLA) site identified in Appendix P, as well as 
general information from their SWPPP if the SWPPP is not posted online. 
The EPA NPDES electronic Reporting Tool (NeT) will use latitude and 
longitude information for each outfall to automatically determine the 
receiving waters the facility discharges to and the receiving water's 
or waters' impairment status.
    3. Electronic Reporting Requirements. Electronic reporting is 
required in the 2015 MSGP. Electronic reporting will create 
efficiencies and burden reduction regarding information submittal to 
the Agency. Recognizing there may be cases that make electronic 
submittals of information not possible, the EPA has included a waiver 
that an operator can receive from their EPA Regional Office. Waivers 
must be approved by the EPA Regional Office on a case-by-case basis and 
are not intended to cover information submittals for the entire permit 
term.

[[Page 34406]]

    4. Threatened and Endangered Species Requirements. The EPA has 
finalized changes to the procedures operators must follow to establish 
their eligibility with regard to protection of threatened and 
endangered species and critical habitat (Appendix E) as a result of the 
EPA's consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 
These changes are necessary to ensure that the endangered and 
threatened species eligibility criteria in Part 1.1.4.5 are adequately 
protective of such species, and to ensure that operators are making 
accurate determinations of which eligibility criterion they qualify 
under.
    5. Effluent Limit Clarifications. Several of the effluent limits in 
Part 2 of the 2015 MSGP include a greater level of specificity in order 
to make the requirements more clear and transparent. These 
clarifications will help permittees better understand how to comply 
with the effluent limits. The effluent limits in Part 2 for which the 
EPA has made clarifications include requirements for minimizing 
exposure, good housekeeping, maintenance, spill prevention and response 
procedures, and employee training.
    6. Inspections. The EPA has consolidated the comprehensive site 
inspection and routine facility inspection procedures into one set of 
procedures to eliminate redundancies.
    7. Corrective Actions. Although the 2008 MSGP required corrective 
actions, the EPA has provided greater detail about how these actions 
are to be handled. In the 2015 MSGP, the EPA clarified which conditions 
require a SWPPP review, modified the deadlines to further specify the 
EPA's expectations for what actions must be taken by the deadlines, and 
rewrote and clarified the reporting requirements following corrective 
actions.
    8. SWPPP Documentation. To reduce permittee burden, the EPA 
identified the effluent limit requirements in Part 2.1.2 that are the 
most straightforward, i.e., the ones that do not involve the site-
specific selection of a control measure or are specific activity 
requirements (e.g., ``Plainly label containers . . . that could be 
susceptible to spillage or leakage to encourage proper handling and 
facilitate rapid response if spills or leaks occur''). Permittees can 
comply with the documentation requirements regarding these particular 
effluent limits by including the effluent limits verbatim in their 
SWPPP without providing additional information, thereby reducing the 
burden associated with SWPPP development (see Part 5.2.4). Requirements 
that involve activities that are done infrequently or are direct and 
simple may be identified in the SWPPP as written in the permit to be 
executed effectively.
    9. SWPPP Availability. To provide greater access to the SWPPP for 
the public, the EPA, and the Fish and Wildlife Service and National 
Marine Fisheries Services (the Services), the 2015 MSGP requires that 
permittees either provide a URL for their SWPPP on the NOI form, or 
provide selected information from the SWPPP on the NOI form. The 
selected information from the SWPPP that would have to be included in 
the NOI form includes: Onsite industrial activities exposed to 
stormwater, including potential spill and leak areas (see Parts 
5.2.3.1, 5.2.3.3 and 5.2.3.5); pollutants or pollutant constituents 
associated with each industrial activity exposed to stormwater that 
could be discharged in stormwater and any authorized non-stormwater 
discharges listed in Part 1.1.3 (see Part 5.2.3.2); control measures 
employed to comply with the non-numeric technology-based effluent 
limits required in Part 2.1.2 and Part 8, and any other measures taken 
to comply with the requirements in Part 2.2 Water Quality-Based 
Effluent Limitations (see Part 5.2.4); a schedule for good housekeeping 
and maintenance (see Part 5.2.5.1); and a schedule for all inspections 
required in Part 3 (see Part 5.2.5.2).
    10. Benchmark Monitoring. For the 2015 MSGP, the EPA has included 
additional non-hardness dependent metals benchmarks for facilities that 
discharge into saline waters. The addition of these benchmarks provide 
an appropriate indicator of the performance of the measures taken to 
meet the effluent limitations contained in the permit where stormwater 
is discharged into saline waters. Benchmark values in the 2008 MSGP for 
these metals were based on acute or chronic aquatic life freshwater 
criteria. These additional saline benchmark values are based on 
available acute ambient water quality criteria for arsenic, cadmium, 
copper, cyanide, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver and zinc.
    11. Industry Sector-specific Requirements. The following changes 
were made to Part 8 of the MSGP, which describes requirements specific 
to particular industry sectors:
    Sector A, Timber Products--Discharges resulting from uncontaminated 
spray down or intentional wetting of logs at wet deck storage areas is 
an allowed non-stormwater discharge provided the effluent limitation in 
Part 8.A.7 is met. To accommodate situations where facilities use water 
from a waterbody that they intend to return to the waterbody following 
spraying/wetting, the permit contains an allowance or credit for 
pollutants originally in the waterbody prior to use and discharge.
    Sector G, Metal Mining--As with the 2008 MSGP, this permit provides 
coverage to operators for earth-disturbing activities conducted prior 
to active mining activities. Before 2008 those activities were required 
to be covered separately under the Construction General Permit (CGP) or 
an individual construction stormwater permit. To facilitate such 
coverage, additional requirements have been added that are consistent 
with limits from the Construction & Development (C&D) Effluent 
Limitation Guideline (ELG) (for earth-disturbing activities associated 
with the construction of staging roads and the construction of access 
roads conducted prior to active mining), and for mine site preparation 
earth disturbances, revised limits based on EPA's best professional 
judgement (BPJ)).
    Sector H, Coal Mining--Additional requirements have been added that 
are consistent with changes made to Sector G.
    Sector J, Mineral Mining and Dressing--Additional requirements have 
been added that are consistent with changes made to Sector G.
    Sector S, Air Transportation--The EPA has added requirements based 
on the final effluent limitation guidelines for airplane and airport 
deicing operations. Also, the EPA has included clarifications regarding 
airport operators' responsibilities and the permit requirements that 
airport authorities may conduct on behalf of airport tenants.

IV. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive 
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review

    Under Executive Order (EO) 12866 (58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993)) 
this action is a ``significant regulatory action.'' Accordingly, the 
EPA submitted this action to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 and any changes made 
in response to OMB recommendations have been documented in the docket 
for this action.

V. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian 
Tribal Governments

    In compliance with Executive Order 13175, the EPA has consulted 
with tribal officials to gain an understanding

[[Page 34407]]

of and, where necessary, to address tribal implications of the MSGP. In 
the course of this consultation, the EPA undertook the following 
activities:
     December 11, 2012--EPA presented an overview of the 2008 
MSGP and potential changes for the renewal of the MSGP to the National 
Tribal Caucus.
     December 12, 2012--EPA presented an overview of the 
current MSGP and potential changes for the renewal of the MSGP to the 
National Tribal Water Council.
     December 12, 2012--EPA mailed notification letters to 
tribal leaders initiating consultation and coordination on the renewal 
of the MSGP. The initiation letter was posted on the tribal portal Web 
site at http://www.epa.gov/tribal/consultation.
     January 15, 2013--EPA held an informational teleconference 
open to all tribal representatives, and reserved the last part of the 
teleconference for official consultation comments. EPA also invited 
tribes to submit written comments on the permit renewal. The 
presentation was posted on the tribal portal Web site at http://www.epa.gov/tribal/consultation.

VI. Analysis of Economic Impacts

    The EPA expects the economic impact on entities covered under this 
permit, including small businesses, to be minimal. A copy of the EPA's 
economic analysis, titled, ``Cost Impact Analysis for the Multi-Sector 
General Permit (MSGP)'' is available in the docket for this permit. The 
economic impact analysis indicates that while there will be some 
incremental increase in the costs of complying with the new permit, 
these costs will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.

    Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Deborah Szaro,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA Region 1.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Jos[eacute] C. Font,
Director, Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, EPA Region 2.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Jon M. Capacasa,
Director, Water Protection Division, EPA Region 3.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Tinka G. Hyde,
Director, Water Division, EPA Region 5.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
William K. Honker,
Director, Water Quality Protection Division, EPA Region 6.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Karen Flournoy,
Director, Water, Wetlands, and Pesticides Division, EPA Region 7.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Darcy O'Connor,
Acting Assistant Regional Administrator, EPA Region 8.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Nancy Woo,
Acting Director, Water Division, EPA Region 9.
    Dated: June 4, 2015.
Daniel D. Opalski,
Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, EPA Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2015-14792 Filed 6-15-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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