Code of Maine Rules › 06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL › Chapter 526 - COOLING WATER INTAKE STRUCTURES › Section 096-526-17 - Application Processing Procedures for Existing Facilities [See 40 CFR Section 125.98]

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Permit
				application.
The Department must review the materials submitted by the
				applicant under section 18 for completeness pursuant to Chapter 521, section
				4(e), at the time of the initial permit application and any application for a
				subsequent permit.
B.
Permitting requirements.
The requirements of this Chapter are
				implemented through a MEPDES permit. Based on the information submitted in the
				permit application, the Department must determine the requirements and
				conditions to include in the permit.
(1) Such
				permits, including permits with alternative requirements under paragraph B(7)
				of this section, must include the following language as a permit condition:
				"Nothing in this permit authorizes take for the purposes of a facility's
				compliance with the Endangered Species Act."
(2) At a minimum, the permit must include
				conditions to implement and ensure compliance with the impingement mortality
				standard in section 13.C and the entrainment standard in section 13.D,
				including any measures to protect State or Federally listed threatened and
				endangered species and designated critical habitat required by the Department.
				In addition, the permit must include conditions, management practices, and
				operational measures necessary to ensure proper operation of any technology
				used to comply with the impingement mortality standard in section 13.C and the
				entrainment standard in section 13.D. Pursuant to section 13.G, the permit may
				include additional control measures, monitoring requirements, and reporting
				requirements that are designed to minimize incidental take, reduce or remove
				more than minor detrimental effects to State or Federally listed species and
				designated critical habitat, or avoid jeopardizing State or Federally listed
				species or destroying or adversely modifying designated critical habitat (e.g.,
				prey base). Such control measures, monitoring requirements, and reporting
				requirements may include measures or requirements identified by the U.S. Fish
				and Wildlife Service and/or the National Marine Fisheries Service during the
				60-day review period pursuant to section 17.H or the public notice and comment
				period pursuant to Chapter 522, section 8. The Department may include
				additional permit requirements if:
(i) Based
				on information submitted to the Department by any fishery management agency or
				other relevant information, there are migratory or sport or commercial species
				subject to entrainment that may be directly or indirectly affected by the
				cooling water intake structure; or
(ii) It is determined by the Department,
				based on information submitted by any fishery management agencies or other
				relevant information, that operation of the facility, after meeting the
				entrainment standard of this section, would still result in undesirable
				cumulative stressors to State or Federally listed and proposed, threatened and
				endangered species, and designated and proposed critical habitat.
(3) At a minimum, the permit must
				require the permittee to monitor as required by sections 13 and 15.
(4) At a minimum, the permit must require the
				permittee to report and keep the records specified by section 16.
(5) [Reserved]
(6) [Reserved]
(7) For new units at existing facilities, the
				Department may establish alternative requirements if the data specific to the
				facility indicate that compliance with the requirements of section 13.E(1) or
				(2) for each new unit would result in compliance costs wholly out of proportion
				to the costs EPA considered in establishing the requirements at issue, or would
				result in significant adverse impacts on local air quality, significant adverse
				impacts on local water resources other than impingement or entrainment, or
				significant adverse impacts on local energy markets:
(i) The alternative requirements must achieve
				a level of performance as close as practicable to the requirements of section
				13.E(1);
(ii) The alternative
				requirements must ensure compliance with this Chapter, other provisions of the
				Clean Water Act, and State law;
(iii) The burden is on the Owner or Operator
				of the facility requesting the alternative requirement to demonstrate that
				alternative requirements should be authorized for the new unit.
(8) The Department may require
				additional measures, such as seasonal deployment of barrier nets, to protect
				shellfish.