Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782-0020
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activities; Extension of Comment Period
Posted Date: 2011-06-17T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 117 (Friday, June 17, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35431-35433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15101]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9320-3, EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782]

Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 
General Permit for Stormwater Discharges From Construction Activities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Extension of Comment Period.

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SUMMARY: On April 25, 2011, EPA published a draft NPDES general permit 
entitled ``Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 
(NPDES) General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction 
Activities.'' As initially published in the Federal Register, written 
comments on the draft general permit were to be submitted to EPA on or 
before June 24, 2011 (a 60-day public comment period). Since 
publication, EPA has received several requests for additional time to 
submit comments. Therefore, the public comment period is being extended 
for 17 days and will now end on July 11, 2011.

DATES: Comments on the draft general permit must be received on or 
before July 11, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2010-0782, by one of the following methods:
    1. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the online instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. E-mail: ow-docket@epa.gov.
    3. Mail to: Water Docket, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mail Code: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460, 
Attention: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782. Such deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-
0782. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in 
the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through www.regulations.gov your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at a docket facility. The Office 
of Water (OW) Docket Center is open from 8:30 until 4:30 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The OW Docket Center 
telephone number is (202) 566-2426, and the Docket address is OW 
Docket, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC 20004. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number 
for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the draft 
NPDES general permit, contact the appropriate EPA Regional office 
listed in Section I.D, or Greg Schaner, EPA Headquarters, Office of 
Water, Office of Wastewater Management at tel.: 202-564-0721 or e-mail: 
schaner.greg@epa.gov, or Erika Farris, EPA Headquarters, Office of 
Water, Office of Wastewater Management at tel.: 202-564-7548, or e-mail 
farris.erika@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information is organized 
as follows:

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    The draft construction general permit (``draft CGP'') applies to 
the following construction activities:

         Table 1--Entities Potentially Regulated by This Permit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       North American
                              Examples of affected        Industry
          Category                  entities           Classification
                                                     System (NAICS) code
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry....................   Construction site operators disturbing 1
                                 or more acres of land, or less than 1
                                acre but part of a larger common plan of
                                development or sale if the larger common
                                 plan will ultimately disturb 1 acre or
                                   more, and performing the following
                                              activities:
                             -------------------------------------------
                              Building, Developing                   233
                               and General
                               Contracting.

[[Page 35432]]

 
                              Heavy Construction..                   234
------------------------------------------------------------------------

EPA does not intend the preceding table to be exhaustive, but provides 
it as a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by 
this action. This table lists the types of activities that EPA is now 
aware of that could potentially be affected by this action. Other types 
of entities not listed in the table could also be affected. To 
determine whether your facility is regulated by this action, you should 
carefully examine the definition of ``construction activity'' and 
``small construction activity'' in existing EPA regulations at 40 CFR 
122.26(b)(14)(x) and 122.26(b)(15), respectively. If you have questions 
regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, 
consult one of the persons listed for technical information in the 
preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782. The official public 
docket is the collection of materials that is available for public 
viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA 
West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. 
Although all documents in the docket are listed in an index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Publicly available docket materials are available in hard 
copy at the EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room, open from 8:30 a.m. 
to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744 and the 
telephone number for the Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the United States government online source for 
Federal regulations at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Electronic versions of this draft permit and fact sheet are 
available on EPA's NPDES Web site at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through the 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.regulations.gov to submit or view public 
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official 
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that 
are available electronically. For additional information about EPA's 
public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/dockets. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials through the Docket Facility identified in Section 
I.B.1.

C. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark all of the 
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information on computer 
disks mailed to EPA, mark the surface of the disk as CBI. Also identify 
electronically the specific information contained in the disk or that 
you claim is CBI. In addition to one complete version of the specific 
information claimed as CBI, you must submit a copy that does not 
contain the information claimed as CBI for inclusion in the public 
document. Information marked as CBI will not be disclosed except in 
accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
    For public commenters, it is important to note that EPA's policy is 
that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, 
will be made available for public viewing in EPA's electronic public 
docket as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment 
containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that 
material in the version of the comment that is placed in EPA's 
electronic public docket. The entire printed comment, including the 
copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket.
    Public comments submitted on computer disks that are mailed or 
delivered to the docket will be transferred to EPA's electronic public 
docket. Public comments that are mailed or delivered to the docket will 
be scanned and placed in EPA's electronic public docket. Where 
practical, physical objects will be photographed, and the photograph 
will be placed in EPA's electronic public docket along with a brief 
description written by the docket staff.
    2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify this permit by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date, and 
page number).
     Where possible, respond to specific questions or organize 
comments by referencing a section or part of this permit.
     Explain why you agree or disagree, suggest alternatives, 
and suggest substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible.
     To ensure that EPA can read, understand, and therefore 
properly respond to comments, the Agency would prefer that commenters 
cite, where possible, the paragraph(s) or section in the fact sheet or 
permit to which each comment refers.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

D. Who are the EPA regional contacts for this draft permit?

    For EPA Region 1, contact Jessica Hing at tel.: (617) 918-1560 or 
e-mail at hing.jessica@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 2, contact Stephen Venezia at tel.: (212) 637-3856 
or e-mail at venezia.stephen@epa.gov, or for Puerto Rico, contact 
Sergio Bosques at

[[Page 35433]]

tel.: (787) 977-5838 or e-mail at bosques.sergio@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 3, contact Chuck Schadel at tel.: (215) 814-5761 or 
e-mail at schadel.chuck@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 4, contact Michael Mitchell at tel.: (404) 562-9303 
or e-mail at mitchell.michael@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 5, contact Brian Bell at tel.: (312) 886-0981 or e-
mail at bell.brianc@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 6, contact Suzanna Perea at tel.: (214) 665-7217 or 
e-mail at: perea.suzanna@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 7, contact Mark Matthews at tel.: (913) 551-7635 or 
e-mail at: matthews.mark@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 8, contact Amy Clark at tel.: (303) 312-7014 or e-
mail at: clark.amy@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 9, contact Eugene Bromley at tel.: (415) 972-3510 or 
e-mail at bromley.eugene@epa.gov.
    For EPA Region 10, contact Misha Vakoc at tel.: (206) 553-6650 or 
e-mail at vakoc.misha@epa.gov.

II. Extension of Comment Period for Draft CGP

A. Draft CGP

    On April 25, 2011, EPA announced in the Federal Register the 
publication of proposed modifications to the next iteration of its CGP. 
See 79 FR 22882. The Federal Register notice provided summary details 
of the changes in the proposed permit, as compared to the existing CGP, 
and the supporting legislative and regulatory background behind these 
modifications. A key difference between the draft CGP and past versions 
of the permit is the fact that for the first time EPA's permit is 
required to include new requirements promulgated by the Agency in its 
Construction and Development Effluent Limitations Guidelines and New 
Source Performance Standards, also referred to as the ``C&D rule''. 
Copies of the draft permit are available on EPA's Web site at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.cfm. More information regarding 
EPA's C&D rule can be found at http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/construction/index.cfm.

B. Extension of Comment Period

    EPA is extending the deadline for submitting comments on the draft 
CGP to July 11, 2011. The original deadline for comments, based on a 
60-day comment period, was June 24, 2011. EPA's decision responds to a 
request from several organizations to extend the comment deadline in 
order to provide a longer period of time in which to provide comments. 
EPA is hopeful that this 17-day extension, although not as long as the 
60-day extension that at least one organization requested, will assist 
in providing an adequate amount of additional time for these 
organizations as well as other members of the public to review the 
draft permit and to provide written comments.

    Authority:  Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

    Dated: June 7, 2011.
H. Curtis Spalding,
Regional Administrator, EPA Region 1.
    Dated: June 6, 2011.
Kevin Bricke,
Acting Division Director, Division of Environmental Planning & 
Protection, EPA Region 2.
    Dated: June 8, 2011.
Jos[eacute] C. Font,
Acting Division Director, Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, 
EPA Region 2.
    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Jon M. Capacasa,
Director, Water Protection Division, EPA Region 3.
    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Douglas Mundrick,
Acting Director, Water Protection Division, EPA Region 4.
    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Tinka G. Hyde,
Director, Water Division, EPA Region 5.
    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Jane B. Watson,
Acting Director, Water Quality Protection Division, EPA Region 6.
    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Karen Flournoy,
Acting Director, Water, Wetlands and Pesticides Division, EPA Region 7.
    Dated: June 6, 2011.
Stephen S. Tuber,
Assistant Regional Administrator, Offices of Partnerships and 
Regulatory Assistance, EPA Region 8.
    Dated: June 6, 2011.
Alexis Strauss,
Director, Water Division, EPA Region 9.
    Dated: June 6, 2011.
Michael A. Bussell,
Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, EPA Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2011-15101 Filed 6-16-11; 8:45 am]
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