MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Inadvertent Errors in the Final Rule, Final Regulations to Establish 

 Requirements for Cooling Water Intake Structures at Existing Facilities and 

 Amend Requirements at Phase I Facilities (Tier 1, SAN 5210, RIN 2040-AE95) 

 - Correction of Inadvertent Errors 

FROM: Nancy K. Stoner 

 Acting Assistant Administrator 

 Office of Water (4101M) 

THRU: Steven M. Neugeboren 

 Associate General Counsel 

 Office of General Counsel (2355A) 

 Joel Beauvais 

 Associate Administrator 

 Office of Policy (1804A) 

TO: Gina McCarthy 

 EPA Administrator (1101A) 

There were several inadvertent errors made in the process of preparing the signature package for 

a final rule under Clean Water Act section 316(b) entitled Final Regulation to Establish 

Requirements for Cooling Water Intake Structures at Existing Facilities and Amend 

Requirements at Phase I Facilities. The rule was signed on May 19, 2014. This memo identifies 

these errors and shows the corrected text. These corrections are described below.1

● Exhibit I-4 on page 44 is amended to make the changes shown below because the 

examples provided are incorrect and at odds with the regulatory text. The table identifies as 

examples of new units at an existing facility units that are not new units as defined in the 

regulatory text at § 125.92(u). The regulatory text defines a “new unit” as, in part, a stand-alone 

unit, further stating that a “stand-alone unit is a separate unit added to a facility for either the 

same general industrial operation or another operation.” The examples provided in the table are 

incorrect and inconsistent with the regulatory text because they identify as “new units” those 

units that are not additions to an existing facility but are rather substitutions for existing units at a 

facility. Similarly, the example provided of an existing unit has been changed in order to clarify 

that retrofitting of an existing unit with a new boiler or use of a different fuel does not result in 

conversion of an existing unit to a new unit for consistency with the regulatory text. 

 

1

 Note that the cited page numbers refer to the page in the redline/strikeout version of the 

preamble and therefore may not correspond to the page on which the error appears on the 

prepublication copy. 
Exhibit I-4. Examples of new and existing units at existing electric generation facilities 

Examples of new units at an existing facility Examples of existing units 

A unit that is constructed at a stand-alone location at 

an existing facility intake-structure regardless of any 

plans to retire any other unit at the facility in the 

future

A unit retrofitted with where a new boiler or fuel type 

Is employed 

An existing unit is retired and demolished, with a new 

unit constructed in the former unit’s location as a 

replacement (regardless of the change in generating 

capacity, the change in cooling water intake flow, or 

the use of an existing intake structure) 

A unit that is repowered or undergoes significant 

modifications

● Exhibit I-5 on page 47 is amended to make the changes below because the examples 

provided are incorrect and at odds with the regulatory text. These changes parallel those 

identified above. Exhibit I-5 identifies as examples of new units at an existing facility units that 

are not new units as defined in the regulatory text at § 125.92(u). The regulatory text defines a 

“new unit” as, in part, a stand-alone unit, further stating that a “stand-alone unit is a separate unit 

added to a facility for either the same general industrial operation or another operation.” The 

examples provided in the table are incorrect and inconsistent with the regulatory text because 

they identify as “new units” those units that are not additions to an existing facility but are rather 

substitutions for existing units at a facility. 

Exhibit I-5. Examples of new and existing units at manufacturers 

Examples of new units at an existing facility Examples of existing units at an existing facility 

A unit that is constructed at a stand-alone location at 

an existing facility (either adjacent to existing units 

or on newly acquired or developed property) 

regardless of any plans to retire any other unit at 

the facility in the future

A unit where only the waste heat generating process 

equipment or the cooling system equipment is 

replaced 

A unit that is constructed adjacent to an existing unit 

for the same industrial activity (such as expanding 

the production output by building a second unit as a 

stand-alone unit next to the existing unit) 

A unit where modifications are made to the waste 

heat generating process equipment or the cooling 

system (e.g., optimization, repairs, upgrades to 

operational elements) 

An existing unit is retired before or after a new unit is 

constructed as a replacement (regardless of the 

change in production capacity, the change in 

Replacement or upgrade of ancillary equipment (e.g., 

pumps, motors, HVAC, etc.)