2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 27A. Environment and Natural Resources › §27A-2-6-204. Authority of Executive Director - Issuance of discharge permits, conditions - Availability of records, reports or other information.

A. Pollutant discharge permits issued by the Executive Director may include schedules of compliance and such conditions as the Executive Director may prescribe which:
1. Prevent, control or abate pollution, including such water-quality-related and technology-based effluent limitations as are necessary to protect the water quality and existing and designated beneficial uses of the waters of the state;
2. Require application of best practicable control technology currently available, best conventional pollutant control technology, or best available technology economically achievable or such other limitations as the Executive Director may prescribe;
3. Require compliance with national standards of performance, toxic and pretreatment effluent standards;
4. Set limitations or prohibitions designed to prohibit the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts or to require pretreatment of pollutants;
5. Set interim compliance dates which are enforceable without otherwise showing a violation of an effluent limitation or harm to water quality;
6. Set terms and conditions for sludge and land application of wastewater and for impoundments in accordance with rules promulgated by the Board; and
7. Comply with the provisions of the Oklahoma Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act and the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
B. The Executive Director shall:
1. Have authority to issue individual permits and authorizations under general discharge permits for pollutants and stormwater and sludge as authorized by the Oklahoma Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act;
2. Issue permits for fixed terms not to exceed five (5) years;
3. Have the authority to require in permits issued to publicly or privately owned treatment works conditions requiring the permittee to give notice to the Department of new introductions into such works of pollutants from any source which would be a new source as defined in Section 306 of the Clean Water Act or from a source which would be a point source subject to Section 301 of the Clean Water Act if it were discharging directly to waters of the state, a substantial change in volume or character of pollutants being introduced into such works by a source introducing pollutants into such works at the time of issuance of the permit, or such other conditions as may be required under the Clean Water Act or state law;
4. Have the authority to ensure compliance with Sections 204(b), 307, and 308 and other provisions of the Clean Water Act and with other applicable federal law;
5. Have all necessary and incidental authority to comply with the requirements of the Clean Water Act and requirements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency set forth in duly promulgated federal regulations adopted under the Clean Water Act;
6. Have the authority to terminate or modify permits issued by the Executive Director for cause, including but not limited to:
a.
violation of any condition of the permit, including but not limited to conditions related to monitoring requirements, entry and inspections,
b.
obtaining a permit by misrepresentation, or failure to disclose fully all relevant facts, or
c.
change in any condition that requires either a temporary or permanent reduction or elimination of the permitted discharge;
7. Have all necessary authority to implement and enforce Department programs and requirements established by the Environmental Quality Board in duly promulgated rules, including but not limited to the authority to implement and enforce a statewide pretreatment program required under federal law and regulations and to implement and enforce requirements applicable to dischargers into municipal separate storm sewer systems;
8. Have all necessary or incidental authority to investigate and abate violations of permits issued by the Executive Director, violations of administrative orders, violations of duly promulgated rules, and violations of the Oklahoma Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, and shall have all necessary and incidental authority to apply sanctions through administrative proceedings for violations, including but not limited to violations of requirements to obtain permits, terms and conditions of permits, effluent standards and limitations and water quality standards, and violations of requirements for recording, reporting, monitoring, entry, inspection and sampling; and
9. Have authority to require permits for indirect discharges or other introductions of pollutants to publicly owned treatment works, impose pretreatment standards and other requirements upon users of such treatment works, and to enforce such permits and requirements pursuant to Section 2-6-206 of this title.
C. Authorized employees or representatives of the Department shall, upon presentation of credentials, have:
1. A right of entry to, upon, or through any private or public premises upon which an effluent or sludge source is or may be located or in which any records are required to be maintained;
2. Access to at any reasonable time for the purposes of reviewing and copying any records required to be maintained;
3. Authority to inspect any monitoring equipment, methods, disposal systems or other facilities or equipment which may be required; and
4. Access for the purpose of inspecting and sampling any effluent streams or any discharge of pollutants to waters of the state or to treatment systems discharging into waters of the state or for inspection and sampling of any sludge source, storage, beneficial use, reuse or disposal site.
D. The Executive Director shall not issue a discharge permit if the permit:
1. Would authorize the discharge of a radiological, chemical or biological warfare agent, or high-level radioactive waste;
2. Would, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Army acting through the Chief of Engineers, result in the substantial impairment of anchorage and navigation of any waters of the United States as those waters are defined in the Clean Water Act;
3. Is objected to in writing by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or his designee, pursuant to any right to object which is granted to the Administrator under Section 402(d) of the Clean Water Act; or
4. Would authorize a discharge from a point source which is in conflict with a plan approved under Section 208(b) of the Clean Water Act.
E. Copies of records, plans, reports or other information required by the Department shall be submitted upon request and shall be subject to and made available for inspection at reasonable times to any authorized representative of the Department of Environmental Quality upon showing of proper credentials. Any authorized representative of the Department may examine any records or memoranda pertaining to discharges, treatment, or other limitations set by permit, order or duly promulgated rules of the Board.
F. Any records, reports, or information obtained pursuant to this section shall be available to the public, except that upon submission of sufficient evidence showing that records, reports, or information, or particular parts thereof, other than effluent data, if made public would divulge methods or processes entitled to protection as trade secrets of such person, such record, report, or information, or particular portion thereof shall be considered confidential in accordance with the purposes of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the Department or an authorized representative of the Department, including, but not limited to, any authorized contractor, from disclosing records, reports, or information to other officers, employees, or authorized representatives of the State of Oklahoma or the United States concerned with carrying out provisions of state or federal law under their respective jurisdictions or within their respective authorities.
G. The Executive Director and any person designated by him to approve all or portions of permits, or to modify, revoke or reissue permits or to make any final decisions in the first instance or on appeal relating to permits or enforcement actions related thereto, shall be required to meet all requirements of Section 304 of the Clean Water Act and federal regulations promulgated thereunder.
Added by Laws 1992, c. 398, § 16, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 65, eff. July 1, 1993. Renumbered from § 1004 of this title by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 359, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 324, § 22, eff. July 1, 1993; Laws 1994, c. 353, § 12, eff. July 1, 1994.