[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 211 (Thursday, October 31, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86802-86804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25219]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492; FRL-12374-01-R1]


Notice of Preliminary Designation of Certain Stormwater 
Discharges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Notice of 
Availability of Draft Permit Under the National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System of the Clean Water Act

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency Region 1 (``EPA'') is providing notice of two proposed actions 
today. The first action is the Preliminary Designation of certain 
stormwater discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional 
properties with one acre or more of impervious surface in the Charles, 
Neponset, and Mystic River watersheds in Massachusetts for regulation 
under the Clean Water Act's (``CWA'') National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System (``NPDES'') permitting program. Second, the Regional 
Administrator of the EPA Region 1 is concurrently providing notice of 
availability of a draft NPDES General Permit (``GP'') for Private 
Commercial Industrial, and Institutional (``CII'') Stormwater 
Discharges in the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River Watersheds in 
Massachusetts (``Draft CII GP''). The Draft CII GP would regulate the 
identified stormwater discharges, as it is authorized to do under 
section 402 of the CWA, by requiring the implementation of Best 
Management Practices (``BMPs'') and meeting other limitations to meet 
water quality standards.

[[Page 86803]]


DATES: Comments on the Preliminary Designation and the Draft CII GP may 
be submitted as described in Section I.A of this notice. The public 
notice period for both the Preliminary Designation and the Draft CII GP 
will close January 29, 2025. EPA will hold virtual public meetings on 
January 7, 2025, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and January 9, 2025, at 7 p.m. 
Eastern Time. EPA will hold virtual public hearings on January 22, 
2025, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and January 23, 2025, 7 p.m. Eastern Time. 
Please refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for registration 
instructions for the public meetings and hearings.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments on the Preliminary Designation and/or 
the Draft CII GP, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492, by 
any of the following methods:

--Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/ (our 
preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
--Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2072110e726461604550410e474f56"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3f6d0e116d7b7e7f5a4f5e11585049">[email protected]</span></a>, and include ``Comments on the Preliminary 
Designation and/or Draft CII GP'' in the subject line.
--Mail: U.S. EPA Region 1, Water Division, Attn: Laura Schifman, 5 Post 
Office Square, Suite 100, Mail Code 06-4, Boston, Massachusetts 02109-
3912. If comments are submitted in hard copy form, please also email a 
copy to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1341223d415752537663723d747c65"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93c1a2bdc1d7d2d3f6e3f2bdf4fce5">[email protected]</span></a>.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Schifman, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Region 1, Water Division, Stormwater Permits Section; 
telephone number: (617) 918-1015; email address: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9deefef5f4fbf0fcf3b3f1fce8effcddf8edfcb3faf2eb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="90e3f3f8f9f6fdf1febefcf1e5e2f1d0f5e0f1bef7ffe6">[email protected]</span></a>.
    Administrative Record: The Preliminary Designation, the Draft CII 
GP, and other related documents in the administrative record are on 
file and may be inspected between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays, at the following address: U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1 Regional Office, Water 
Division, 5 Post Office Square, Boston, MA. Contact the person listed 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your 
inspection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation

A. Written Comments

    Submit your comments as detailed in the ADDRESSES section. Do not 
submit to EPA any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (``CBI''), Proprietary Business Information (``PBI''), or 
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia 
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written 
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and 
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system).

B. Public Meetings and Public Hearings

    EPA will begin pre-registering speakers for the hearings upon 
publication of this document in the Federal Register. To register to 
speak at the virtual hearing, please use the online registration form 
available at https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth. The last day to 
pre-register to speak at either the January 22 or 23, 2025 hearings is 
January 16, 2025. On January 17, 2025, EPA will post a general agenda 
for the hearing that will list pre-registered speakers in approximate 
order at: https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth.

II. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    Entities included in the Preliminary Designation and eligible for 
coverage under the Draft CII GP Permit include: commercial, industrial, 
and institutional properties with one acre or more of impervious 
surface in the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River watersheds in 
Massachusetts. Commercial, industrial, and institutional properties are 
identified by reference to Massachusetts Property Type Classification 
Codes, identified in Draft CII GP Appendix H. The amount of impervious 
cover on a parcel can be determined either by verifying EPA's 
impervious cover data or by determining the amount of impervious cover 
by a site plan or site survey, GIS analysis, or Google Earth. These 
methods are described in Draft CII GP Appendix E.

B. Summary and Availability of Preliminary Designation Documents

    The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 1 has made a Preliminary 
Designation of stormwater discharges from certain commercial 
industrial, and institutional properties with one acre or more of 
impervious surface in the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River 
watersheds in Massachusetts for regulation under the NPDES permitting 
program pursuant to Clean Water Act sections 301, 402(p)(2)(E), and 
402(p)(6) of the Clean Water Act and EPA's implementing regulations at 
40 CFR 122.26(a)(9)(i)(C)-(D) and 122.44. Those provisions authorize 
the Agency to regulate stormwater discharges that contribute to a water 
quality standard violation or that are a significant contributor of 
pollutants to waters of the United States, or where controls are needed 
based on wasteload allocations that are part of total maximum daily 
loads. This authority is often referred to as ``residual designation 
authority'' or RDA. EPA is providing notice of its Preliminary 
Designation for NPDES permitting of unregulated stormwater discharges 
from certain commercial industrial, and institutional properties with 
one acre or more of impervious surface in the Charles, Neponset, and 
Mystic River watersheds in Massachusetts.
    The Preliminary Designation plus supplementary information relating 
to the Preliminary Designation are available on EPA Region 1's web page 
at: https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth and at www.regulations.gov 
by searching for Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-0492. This information 
includes parcel analyses of the Neponset River watershed and the Mystic 
River watershed, and an updated parcel analysis for the Charles River 
watershed.
    Please refer to EPA's website or this action's docket on 
www.regulations.gov to review these materials and then follow the 
directions above in this Notice for submitting any comments. Note that 
stakeholders may submit comments on the Preliminary Designation to EPA 
until the end of the comment period and on the EPA NPDES general permit 
for these discharges. See 40 CFR 124.52(c). In this case, the public 
notice periods for the Preliminary Designation and Draft CII GP are 
simultaneous and will run for 90 days from the Federal Register 
publication of this Notice. Commenters may submit comments on the 
Preliminary Designation, the Draft CII GP, or on both actions.

C. Summary and Availability of Draft CII GP Documents

    The Draft CII General Permit, appendices, and fact sheet are 
available at: https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/notice-preliminary-designation-certain-stormwater-discharges-commonwealth and at 
www.regulations.gov by searching for Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-2024-
0492.

[[Page 86804]]

    This Draft CII General Permit is established pursuant to CWA 
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E), and 402(p)(6).
1. Technology-Based Requirements
    This Draft CII General Permit would be available to authorize 
certain stormwater discharges, as it is authorized to do under CWA 
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E) and 402(p)(6), by requiring the 
implementation of BMPs. The Draft CII Permit regulates Phosphorus, a 
non-conventional pollutant, as an indicator parameter for all regulated 
pollutants. As provided in section 402(a)(1) of the CWA, EPA 
established Technology-Based Effluent Limitations (TBELs) in this Draft 
Permit utilizing Best Professional Judgment (BPJ) to meet the ``best 
available technology economically achievable'' (BAT), ``best 
conventional pollutant control technology'' (BCT), and ``best 
practicable control technology currently available'' (BPT) standards 
described in section 304(b) of the CWA. TBELs in this Draft Permit are 
expressed as requirements for implementation of effective best 
management practices (BMPs). 40 CFR 122.44(k). Section 2.1.1 of the 
Draft CII GP requires all Permittees to develop and implement 
Stormwater Pollution Control Plans (SPCPs). The minimum BMPs specified 
in this CII GP represent common practices that can be implemented by 
most CII facilities. Dischargers have flexibility in designing their 
SPCP in accordance with Section 2.2 of this Draft CII GP.
2. Water-Quality Based Requirements
    Based on its scientific and technical judgment, EPA has determined 
that the following reductions of Phosphorus, as an indicator pollutant, 
from CII sites are necessary to meet water quality standards: Charles 
River watershed, 65%; Mystic River watershed, 62%; Neponset River 
watershed, 60%. Permittees' development and implementation of SPCPs 
constitutes compliance with the Water-Quality Based Effluent 
Limitations (WQBELs) contained in this Draft CII GP, including the 
aforementioned reductions of Phosphorus.

D. Provisions on Which EPA Is Soliciting Comment

    While EPA encourages the public to review and comment on all 
provisions in the Preliminary Determination and the Draft CII GP, EPA 
has included in the body of the Draft CII GP Fact Sheet several 
proposed provisions on which EPA specifically requests feedback. The 
following list summarizes these specific requests for comment, and 
where they are included in the fact sheet. EPA notes that these are 
only summaries of the requests for comment. The Agency recommends that 
the public see the specific wording of each comment request within the 
body of the fact sheet.
    1. Multifamily housing/tax codes (Fact Sheet Sec.  1.5): EPA is 
seeking comment on whether to include Multi-Family Residential 
Properties in the final designation and in the final CII GP.
    2. Compliance schedule (Fact Sheet Sec.  5.1.1): EPA is seeking 
comment on whether the proposed compliance schedule is appropriate.
    3. Multiple non-contiguous properties (Fact Sheet Sec.  1.4): EPA 
is seeking comment on how the permitting process should work for owners 
with multiple non-contiguous properties that are subject to the CII GP.
    4. Owner-operator (Fact Sheet Sec.  1.4): EPA is seeking comment on 
whether EPA should regulate the operator with control over a site 
instead of the owner, including sites where multiple operators may be 
tenants of a site (e.g., a shopping plaza with one owner and multiple 
tenants).
    5. Contiguous properties (Fact Sheet Sec.  1.4): EPA is seeking 
comment on its regulation of contiguous sites, which reflect EPAs 
interest in consolidating, to the greatest extent possible, 
responsibility for permit compliance.
    6. Historic Properties (Fact Sheet Sec.  9.3): EPA is seeking 
comment on the Draft CII GP's potential impact on historic properties.

E. Procedures for Reaching a Final Designation and Final Permit 
Decision

    After the comment period closes, EPA intends to issue a final 
permit and final RDA determination. EPA will consider all significant 
comments and make appropriate changes before issuing this permit. EPA's 
responses to public comments received will be included in the docket as 
part of the final permit issuance. Once the final permit becomes 
effective, eligible dischargers may seek authorization.
    Authority: This action is being taken pursuant to Clean Water Act 
sections 301, 402(a)(1), 402(p)(2)(E), and 402(p)(6).

    Dated: October 24, 2024.
David W. Cash,
Administrator, EPA Region 1, Boston, MA.
[FR Doc. 2024-25219 Filed 10-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


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