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. .. . Bryan\\'. Shaw. Ph.D.,

( 'lwirmcm l'ohy Bakl'r. Commissioner



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.Carlo::.

Rubinstein. Commissionrr Zak Cm".tr, 1-\·ccutit•c• I>ircctor



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# .............. TEXA S COMMIS

S ION ON 

# ENVIRO**MtmNo~~** Protceting 7'cxas by Reducing and l'rct'Cilting

I II .hOT' July 3, 201 2 :VIr. \Villi am K H onker, P. E. A cti ng Dir ector

, \ :Va t e r Qu ality Pr otectio n Di\i sion Uni ted Stat es Emironmental Protection Agency 1445 Ross A,·enue, Suite 1200 D allas

, Tex as 75202-2733 R e : Vessel Gen era l P ermit 401 C e rtific at i o n Dear :Yir

. H on ker:



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# ,., <:;) T his lette r is in re sponse

t o the Em ironmental Prot ection Ag ency's (EPA)

l etter date d D ecem b er 15 , 2011
r eq u e s tin g Clean \V ate r Act sec tion 401 Cetti ficati on of the EPA Vess e l General Permit (VGP
) and Small V esse
l G eneral Permit

( sVGP). The VGP is a federal pe rmi t adm ini stered
b y the EPA that fi rst went into effect in 2008 and is curr en tly proposed

r e-iss uan ce \\ith
r e\is ions. The sVGP

i s a new permit proposed for issuance

. B oth p e rmit s are Yalid fo r inland waters and t erri torial sea s out to thre e nautica

l miles. The VGP au th ori zes discharges incid en tal to t he nor ma l ope r at i o n of non-military andnonr ec reation al \ ·essel
s 7 9 feet o r great er in len gth

. Th e 20 1 3 draft VG P w ould con ti nue to r egu late 26 sp ecifi c di sc h ar ge categori es th at ,, ·e re conta ined in the 2008 VGP, an d for th e fi r s t time, would auth ori ze the discharge of fish hold eft1uen

t (which wa s previously exempt by Public Law 111-215).

T h e draft VG P pr opos ed for reis suance contains nume

r ic ballast water dis ch arge limits fo r m o s t Y ess e ls. Th e dra ft VGP also conta in s more st r ingen

t eft1uent limi ts for oil to sea interfaces an d exh aus t gas sc rubber 'sas h wat e r, which would improve em ironm
e nta l pr o tec ti on of C.S. waters.
T echno lo gy based li m it s in the V GP are r epresented as best m anage m en t p ract
i ces (BM Ps) including po llu tion prevention approaches an d stru c tural m a nagement prac tices. E P A h as a l so impr ov ed the efficiency of s e v e ra l of the VGP 's a dmini

s tra tiY e requi
r emen

t s, in cluding allo\dng elect ro nic recordkeeping,

r eq uirin g an annu al r eport in lie u of t h e one -tim e report and annu al non co mplian ce report,

a nd r e quiring small

\ ·essel O\mers

a nd o p e rato r s t o ob t a in cov era ge un d e r th e VGP by compl
e tin g and agree

i n g to th e t e rms of a Pe rmi t Authorizati

o n and R e cord of I n spec tio n form. Th e s VGP

i s a pr oposed

f ed e ra l p ermit to b e ad mini
s tered by the EP A and \v ould a uth orize d i sc harge
s i n cident
a l to t h e normal ope rati on of non -mi litar y a nd non -recrea ti ona l ves se ls less than 7 9 feet

i n length whi ch a r e curr ently exempt from regulation due to a Congressional mora toriu m se t t o ex pire on Decemb

e r 18, 2013

. T h e s VGP

i s org aniz ed by dis c harge managemen

t ca t e gor ies
. All covered disc h arges
a r e l oca ted in these categor

i es. The discharge manageme nt categories
in the draft sV GP include fuel management, engine and oil contro

l , s olid a nd liquid ma inten a nce

, gr ey water managem

e nt , fi sh hold efflu e nt m anagement, and b allas
t w a ter m anage ment. T echnology

b ased li mit s in the sVG P ar e rep r esented as B:\1 P s including pollu ti o n pr e ve n tion ap pr oa c hes and st ruc tural managemel1t pra cti ces

. Hoi\ is our customer sen ice? tceq.tcx s.goY **cu~tomersun**

e\Mr. W illi am K H onke
r U. S. Environmental Protection Ag en cy Vessel General
P ermit
a n d Small Vesse

l Gen e ral Permi

t Pa ge2 J uly 3, 201 2 T he T e xas Comm

i ss ion on Environmental Quali ty (TCEQ)
h as r ev i e\ved both of these perm

i ts . O n be h a lf of the Executive Director and based on our eva lu atio n of th e in formation contain ed in t he do c um ents, the TCEQ ce rtifies that th ere is r easo n a bl e ass u ra n ce th at the implementati on of th ese ge n era l permits

,.vill not result in violation of th e T e x as S urf ace W a ter Quality Standard

s . T herefore, th e TCEQ gran ts 401 \Vater Quality Certification
of the VGP an d sVGP vvi th no additi o nal s ta te requirements. I f you re quire addit

i o nal
i nformation or furth er assistance,
pl ease contac

t Peter Schaefer, W a t er Qu a li ty Assessment Section, \Vat e r Quality Division (MC

-150)

,at (512) 239-4372. Sincere

l y, **D~WG-~** Da vid W. Galindo Wa t e r Qu ality D ivision Dire cto r Texas Commission

o n Envir o nmental Qu ali ty DWG /PS/gg cc: Dr. Elena

J igo uli na
,Water Qua lity D iv i sion, Okl a hom a Di vis ion of Environmental Qu a lity, P.O. Box 1677, Okl a homa Cit y, Oklahom
a, 73 102
-16 77