New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 14A - NEW JERSEY POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM › Subchapter 16 - TRANSFER, MODIFICATION, REVOCATION AND REISSUANCE, RENEWAL, SUSPENSION, AND REVOCATION OF EXISTING PERMITS › Section 7:14A-16.4 - Causes for major modification or revocation and reissuance of a permit

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The Department
				shall issue a major modification or revoke and reissue a permit only for one or
				more of the causes set forth at (b) below.
(b) The following constitute cause for major
				modification or revocation and reissuance of a permit:
1. Any material and substantial alteration or
				addition to the permitted facility, activity, or discharge (including one or
				more changes in the permittee's residual use or disposal practices) which
				occurred after permit issuance and which justifies the application of permit
				conditions that are different or absent from those in the existing permit. A
				request for a permit modification under this paragraph shall include all
				information demonstrating that the alterations or additions occurred after
				permit issuance and therefore this information was not available at the time of
				permit issuance or renewal;
2. New
				information which was not available at the time of permit issuance (other than
				revised regulations, guidance, or test methods) and which would have justified
				the application of different permit conditions at the time of issuance. A
				request for consideration under this paragraph shall include all information
				demonstrating that the information was not available at the time of permit
				issuance. Such information includes, but is not limited to, the following:
i. Information showing a need for additional
				flow;
ii. Effluent testing
				indicating that the cumulative effects on the environment are unacceptable or
				are in violation of applicable standards; or
iii. Any toxic pollutant that a permittee
				begins or expects to begin to use or manufacture as an intermediate or final
				product or by-product which was not reported in the permit application under
				7:14A-4.2. A permittee subject to
				this subparagraph shall amend its permit application to list those
				pollutants;
3. A change
				in the regulation or standard on which the issued permit was based by
				subsequent rule amendment or by judicial decision upon which no further appeals
				may be taken. The Department may provide for a schedule of compliance in
				accordance with
				7:14A-6.4 in order for the
				permittee to meet such regulations or standards;
4. An act of God, strike, flood, or other
				events over which the permittee has little or no control and for which there is
				no reasonably available remedy which the Department has determined warrants the
				modification of a compliance schedule. However, in no case shall a compliance
				schedule be modified to extend beyond an applicable State or Federal statutory
				deadline;
5. A complete and timely
				request filed by the permittee for any of the variances listed in
				7:14A-11.7;
6. Incorporation of an applicable toxic
				effluent standard or prohibition under Section 307(a) of the Federal Act (see
				7:14A-13.2 through 13.4);
7. Inclusion or modification of an effluent
				limitation or parameter pursuant to a permit "reopener" condition as follows:
i. For effluent limitations, including those
				limitations necessary to implement a TMDL or watershed management plan adopted
				in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:15-7, pursuant to
				7:14A-6.2(a)10;
ii. For surrogate parameters, pursuant to
				7:14A-13.7 or 13.10;
iii. For making a determination of reasonable
				potential to cause or contribute to an exceedance of the Surface Water Quality
				Standards, pursuant to
				7:14A-13.5;
iv. For action levels associated with a
				specific effluent limitation that have been exceeded, pursuant to
				7:14A-13.18;
v. For limitations based on narrative Surface
				Water Quality Standards, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:14A-13.7;
vi. For residual use or disposal, pursuant to
				7:14A-20.5;
vii.
(Reserved)
viii. For modification of effluent standards
				when Whole Effluent Toxicity data obtained by the Department shows toxicity at
				levels that exceed applicable effluent standards, as specified in N.J.A.C.
				7:9-5.7(a); or
ix. For issuance of
				a facility wide permit, requiring pollution prevention at a facility, to
				incorporate a pollution prevention plan or to require more stringent effluent
				levels based on pollutant prevention strategies or technologies applicable to
				that facility or industry, in accordance with Section 48 of the Pollution
				Prevention Act,
				13:1D-35, and its implementing
				regulations, specifically,
				7:1K-7.1(c);
8. The filing of a complete
				request from a permittee who qualifies for effluent limitations on a net basis
				under 7:14A-13.4(k)  or
				when a permittee is no longer eligible for net limitations as provided for in
				7:14A-13.4(k) 
				(see the information requirements contained in
				40
				CFR 122.45(g) );
9. Establishment of a compliance schedule for
				development of a pretreatment program in accordance with
				7:14A-6.4(c)  and
				N.J.A.C. 7:14A-19;
10. Failure of
				the State to notify, as required by Section 402(b)(3) of the Federal Act,
				another state whose waters may be affected by a discharge from the
				State;
11. The level of discharge
				of any pollutant which is not limited in the permit exceeds the level which can
				be achieved by the technology based treatment requirements appropriate to the
				permittee under
				7:14A-13.2 through 13.4;
12. Establishment of a "notification level"
				as provided in
				7:14A-6.2(b)2;
13. Modification of a schedule of compliance
				to reflect the time lost during construction of an innovative or alternative
				facility, in the case of a POTW which has received a grant under Section
				202(a)(3) of the Federal Act or public loan moneys for the costs to modify or
				replace facilities constructed with a grant for innovative and alternative
				wastewater technology under Section 202(a)(2) of the Federal Act. In no case
				shall a compliance schedule be modified to extend beyond an applicable State or
				Federal statutory deadline. For a permit modification under this paragraph a
				permittee shall submit all information detailing the reasons for time lost
				during construction and why such loss of time was not the fault of the
				permittee;
14. Correction of
				technical mistakes, such as errors in calculation, or mistaken interpretations
				of law or rules, made in determining permit conditions. For a permit
				modification under this paragraph, when the request is initiated by a
				permittee, the permittee shall cite the location of the alleged error or
				interpretation, denote what the correction should be and provide a detailed
				basis for the correction including any applicable regulatory citations or
				calculations;
15. Inability to
				achieve effluent limitations when the discharger has installed the treatment
				technology considered by the Department in setting effluent limitations imposed
				under section 402(a)(1) of the Federal Act and has properly operated and
				maintained the facilities. The limitations in the modified permit shall reflect
				the level of pollutant control actually achieved but shall not be less
				stringent than required by a subsequently promulgated effluent limitations
				guideline;
16. Inclusion of a plan
				or compliance schedule for the management of septage or sludge in accordance
				with the Statewide Sludge Management Plan;
17. Existence of cause for revocation under
				7:14A-16.6 where the Department
				determines that modification or revocation and reissuance is instead
				appropriate;
18. When the proposed
				automatic transfer of a permit includes one or more of the causes for a major
				modification under this section;
19. For changes in permit issuance and
				renewal schedules to better manage the Department's workload and optimize its
				resource and to facilitate issuing permits on a watershed basis;
20. For substitution of ambient monitoring
				for compliance monitoring in order to gather data for issuing permits on a
				watershed basis; or
21. For a small
				MS4, to include an effluent limitation requiring implementation of one or more
				control measures (or component(s) thereof) when:
i. The permit recognizes under
				7:14A-25.7(b) 
				that another governmental entity or the Department was responsible for
				implementing the measure(s), or component(s) thereof; and
ii. The other governmental entity or the
				Department does not implement the measure(s), or component(s)
				thereof.