Comments / ICR Glossary 

Jennifer Peterson 

to: 

Ronald Jordan 

01/22/2010 06:35 PM 

Cc: 

Jezebele Alicea, Eric Schaeffer 

Show Details 

Hi Ron, 

The only concern we have regarding the ICR glossary is how EPA’s definition of “discharge” impacts the location of 

the samples that the ICR directs plants to collect. As I noted in my December 23, 2009 email, we have found that 

plants do not always sample and report for all pollutants at both the internal outfall (i.e. discharges within the plant) 

and the external outfall (i.e. discharges to surface waters). We think it is important to analyze data from both of 

these locations in order to fully understand the composition of wastewater streams. 

The definition of “discharge,” however, appears to refer only to discharges to surface waters or treatment facilities. 

“Discharge” is defined as “The conveyance of process wastewater to: (1) surface waters; or (2) a publicly owned, 

privately owned, federally owned, combined, or other treatment works.”

Our concern with this definition is that facilities will not sample and report at internal outfalls/discharge points when 

responding to the ICR. Because we think it is important to have sample information from discharge points within 

the plant and locations that discharge directly to surface waters, we respectfully request that EPA revise (or clarify) 

the definition of “discharge” to include internal discharges to ensure that these discharge points are within the scope

of the ICR.

Thank you for considering our comments. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. 

Best,

Jennifer S. Peterson

Attorney

Environmental Integrity Project

1920 L Street NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

(202) 263-4449 PHONE

(202) 296-8822 FAX

jpeterson@environmentalintegrity.org

From: Jordan.Ronald@epamail.epa.gov [mailto:Jordan.Ronald@epamail.epa.gov] 

Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 8:39 AM 

To: Eric Schaeffer; Jennifer Peterson; craig.segall@sierraclub.org; akron@defenders.org; 

msenatore@defenders.org; nstoner@nrdc.org; levans@earthjustice.org 

Cc: Alicea.Jezebele@epamail.epa.gov; Deborah Bartram 

Subject: Steam electric effluent guidelines -- ICR materials

 

EPA has prepared a couple documents which you may find of interest, relating to the information collection 

request (ICR) for the steam electric power generating effluent guidelines. As you are aware, the public comment 

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period for the First Federal Register notice ended on December 28, 2009 and EPA is currently in the process of 

reviewing and addressing these comments. 

1. Draft Glossary We have prepared a draft glossary that will be included as part of the questionnaire (see attached file). The 

glossary will be included along with the ICR that will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

for approval, and will be available for public comment when EPA publishes a Federal Register notice announcing 

submission of the ICR to OMB. However, we would like to offer you the opportunity for an early review of the 

draft glossary and invite you to provide feedback. In order for us to accommodate changes prior to submitting the 

ICR to OMB, we ask you to send us your suggestions for changes to the definitions, as well as identifying any 

terms that should be added or deleted, by Friday, January 22. 

2. Plant Mailing Addresses Attached is a file listing all power plants included in EPA's database of potential respondents. (Note that EPA 

does not intend to send the questionnaire to every plant on the list; however, EPA does not know at this time 

which plants will be selected, nor will that be known until after the random selection process occurs.). The plants 

were identified using Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, which in most cases is also the source of data 

for the mailing addresses. We invite you to review the addresses and operator names, and to provide feedback 

on any corrections that may be needed, including identifying any plants that may have been incorrectly omitted 

from the list. We ask that you send us your suggested changes to us by February 1. 

---------------------------------------------------------- 

Ron Jordan 

Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T) 

Office of Water 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20460 

(202) 566-1003 

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience

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