901 S. Stewart Street, Suite 4001 • Carson City, Nevada 89701 • p: 775.687.4670 • f: 775.687.5856 • ndep.nv.gov

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June 8, 2012

Mr. David Smith, Manager

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region IX

NPDES Permits Office

75 Hawthorne Street

San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

Dear Mr. Smith,

On December 8, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal

Register (Volume 76, Number 236) the Notice for the Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

System (NPDES) General Permits for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of a Vessel.

On December 12, 2011, the State of Nevada received a request from EPA for 401 Water Quality

Certification as required by the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Vessel General Permit (VGP) will cover

discharges incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels and non-recreational vessels greater

than or equal to 79 feet in length. The Small Vessel General Permit (sVGP) will cover discharges

incidental to the normal operation of vessels less than 79 feet in length. Both permits will go into effect on

December 19, 2013.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) grants 401 Water Quality Certification for the

VGP and sVGP. After conducting the appropriate review, NDEP has determined that the VGP and sVGP

will adequately protect the Waters of the State. Vessels falling under the sVGP or VGP must follow the

management measures as outlined in the permits to reduce pollutants in any discharge to meet the water

quality standards listed in the Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) 445A.121 (applicable to all waters),

NAC 445A.1236 (toxic materials), NAC 445A.1626 (Lake Tahoe), NAC 445A.2146 (Colorado River below

Davis Dam), NAC 445A.2148 (Colorado below Hoover Dam), NAC 445A.2152 (Lake Mead) and NAC

445A.2154 (Inner Las Vegas Bay). The regulations can be found online at

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/nac/NAC-445A.html#NAC445ASec118.

NDEP does not find it necessary to include any additional specific or more stringent conditions to assure

compliance with CWA sections 208(e), 301, 302, 303, 306 or 307. For example, NDEP has no Total

Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements applicable to these permits. The TMDLs for Lake Tahoe and

Lake Mead do not have Waste Load Allocations (WLAs) specific to vessel discharges. In addition,

NDEP is choosing not to identify how the conditions currently proposed by EPA in either the sVGP or the

VGP can be made less stringent without violating State law. Most of the “Effluent Limitations and

Related Requirements” in both the sVGP and the VGP are best management practices (BMPs).

Reducing pollutants in vessel discharges through the implementation of BMPs are already at a minimum

level of control. Suggesting even less stringent conditions would question the need for issuing NPDES

permits for discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel at all, considering the number of

other laws and regulations in place to control pollutant discharges from vessels currently in place.

Most of the discharges described in the VGP do not appear applicable to our inland State. In Lake

Tahoe, the paddlewheel vessels 79 feet that would fall under the VGP do not have ballast water tanks

(Section 2.2.3) or exhaust gas wastewater scrubbers (Section 2.2.26) according to the US Coast Guard.

It is expected that similar vessels operating in Lake Mead and the Colorado River also do not have ballast

water tanks or exhaust gas scrubber systems. Therefore, the numeric effluent limitations proposed in the

VGP for these specific discharge categories will not apply in Nevada.
901 S. Stewart Street, Suite 4001 • Carson City, Nevada 89701 • p: 775.687.4670 • f: 775.687.5856 • ndep.nv.gov

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Please contact me at (775) 687-9456 or via email at jstone@ndep.nv.gov if you have any questions.

Sincerely yours,

Jeanmarie Stone

Environmental Scientist III

Bureau of Water Quality Planning

cc: Eugene Bromely, U.S. EPA Region IX NPDES Permits Office

Dave Gaskin, P.E., NDEP Deputy Administrator

Kathy Sertic, Chief, NDEP Bureau of Water Quality Planning

Alan Tinney, P.E., Chief, NDEP Bureau of Water Pollution Control