[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 136 (Monday, July 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42721-42722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15250]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Docket EPA-R02-OW-2022-0598; FRL 9850-02-R2]


Availability of Clean Water Act List Decisions

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces EPA's addition of certain water quality 
limited waters to the 2018 New York list of impaired waters, pursuant 
to the Clean Water Act (CWA), and requests public comment. The CWA and 
EPA's implementing regulations require States to submit, and EPA to 
approve or disapprove, lists of waters for which technology-based and 
other controls are not stringent enough to attain or maintain State 
water quality standards and for which total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) 
must be established. States are required to establish a priority 
ranking for waters on the list and to identify waters targeted for TMDL 
development over the next two years.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to EPA on or before September 16, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R02-

[[Page 42722]]

OW-2022-0598, at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any 
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
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. The EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the internet, cloud, or other file 
sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public 
comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and 
general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Daniel Gurdak at telephone (212) 
637-3634 or by mail at Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, 290 
Broadway, New York, New York 10007-1866.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: New York submitted the 2018 New York CWA 
Section 303(d) list (New York 2018 303(d) list) to EPA in 
correspondence dated November 13th, 2020 (followed up by a correction 
on December 7th, 2020, and a supplement on February 10th, 2022). On 
March 10, 2022, EPA partially approved and partially disapproved the 
New York 2018 303(d) list. Specifically, EPA approved the New York 2018 
303(d) list with respect to the 835 waterbody/pollutant combinations 
requiring TMDLs that New York included on the list and the State's 
priority ranking for these waterbody/pollutant combinations.
    However, EPA disapproved the New York 2018 303(d) list because EPA 
determined that it does not include twenty-two (22) waterbody/pollutant 
combinations that meet CWA Section 303(d) listing requirements.
    For a detailed explanation of EPA's partial approval/partial 
disapproval, please refer to EPA's Support Document (https://www.epa.gov/tmdl/new-yorkimpaired-waters-list). EPA is providing the 
public the opportunity to review its decision to add these 22 
waterbody/pollutant combinations to the New York 2018 303(d) list.
    EPA is disapproving the New York 2018 303(d) list because EPA has 
determined that New York did not include twenty-two (22) waterbody/
pollutant combinations on the 2018 303(d) list that meet 303(d) listing 
requirements, including:
    <bullet> 17 waterbody/pollutant combinations that New York 
improperly delisted because data and information indicate that an 
applicable water quality standard is not met, including:
    [cir] 4 waterbody/pollutant combinations where the applicable water 
quality criterion for odors is not met
    [cir] 9 waterbody/pollutant combinations where data and/or 
information indicate that the applicable water quality criterion/
criteria for floatables is/are not met.
    [cir] 2 waterbody/pollutant combinations where the applicable water 
quality criterion for dissolved oxygen is not met
    [cir] 1 waterbody/pollutant combination where data and/or 
information indicate the presence of harmful algal blooms (HABs), which 
in turn, indicates that an applicable water quality standard is not 
met.
    [cir] 1 waterbody/pollutant combination for an assessment unit 
under 6.4 acres where data and/or information indicate that the 
applicable water quality criterion for dissolved oxygen is not met.
    <bullet> 5 waterbody/pollutant combinations that New York did not 
include on the State's 2016 and/or 2018 303(d) lists, including:
    [cir] 1 waterbody/pollutant combination that EPA listed on the New 
York 2014 303(d) list where data and/or information indicate that the 
applicable narrative water quality criterion for nutrients is not met.
    [cir] 3 waterbody/pollutant combinations where data and information 
indicate the presence of HABs, which in turn, indicates that an 
applicable water quality standard is not met. New York did not 
demonstrate that no pollutant is causing the impairment of this water, 
did not include this waterbody/pollutant combination on the 2018 303(d) 
list and inappropriately categorized this waterbody/pollutant 
combination.
    [cir] 1 waterbody/pollutant combination where data and/or 
information indicate the presence of HABs, which in turn, indicates 
that an applicable water quality standard is not met. New York did not 
include this waterbody/pollutant combination on the 303(d) list or in 
any other category.
    Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

Javier Laureano,
Director, Water Division, Region II.
[FR Doc. 2022-15250 Filed 7-15-22; 8:45 am]
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