Opinion ID: 785093
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Additional design, construction, and operational requirements

Text: 52 Having argued that the Rule fails to accommodate site-specific conditions, 29 UWAG apparently reverses course to challenge the additional design, construction, and operational requirements of § 125.84(b)(4)-(5), (c)(3)-(4) (which involve site-specific evaluations of each new facility to determine whether measures are needed beyond the capacity, velocity, and proportionality limits of Track I to minimize 30 impingement and entrainment), contending they are vague in the extreme, inconsistent with EPA's stated rationale for the regulation (clarity, consistency in decisionmaking, and lessened regulatory burdens), and unsupported by the record. UWAG Br. at 23. UWAG argues that phrases like species of concern and unacceptable stress are too vague to inform facilities what will be required during the permitting process, that the EPA lacks the statutory authority to regulate operational measures (like temporary facility shutdowns, flow reductions, or maintenance procedures), and that there is insufficient evidence in the record to show that the velocity and capacity limitations of Track I are inadequate to minimize impingement and entrainment or to prove that the benefits of the additional requirements will exceed their costs. 53 The EPA concluded that the capacity, velocity, and proportionality requirements of Track I are not enough to minimize adverse environmental impact if a new facility chooses to locate in particular areas where fish and shellfish require additional protection, for example, in the habitat of endangered, commercial, or sport species. See Final Rule, 66 Fed.Reg. at 65,275. Additional technologies, like intake screens, fish buckets, and spray wash systems can prevent organisms from entering the intake system or maximize the survival of impinged or entrained organisms, but their effectiveness varies with a host of factors that are site-specific, like water currents, the amount of debris near the intake, and the velocity of water as it enters the system. See id. at 65,275, 65,279; Public Comment & Response No. 068.109 at 1388. Accordingly, the EPA did not establish a national performance standard based on those technologies, preferring instead to require the new facility to research and implement the technologies appropriate to its design and location as part of the permitting process. A new facility can obtain its first permit without approval of its additional design and construction technologies, although the EPA encourages applicants to engage in a dialogue with the permitting authority as to whether and what kinds of additional technologies are appropriate, and, in any event, the permitting authority must approve the choice of technologies (or lack thereof) during any subsequent re-permitting process. 40 C.F.R. § 125.89(a)(2), (b)(1)(i); Final Rule, 66 Fed.Reg. at 65,276 col. 1. The EPA chose this approach to balance the desire for an efficient fast track permitting process with the need to minimize impingement and entrainment at each new facility. Final Rule, 66 Fed.Reg. at 65,276 col. 1. 54 The EPA concluded that additional technologies can further reduce impingement and entrainment in certain circumstances. We have no license to question that factual finding, which lies well within the realm of the EPA's expertise. Therefore, requiring those technologies is consistent with the statutory mandate to minimize adverse environmental impact. Although UWAG asserts that individual facilities will have no idea what is required, UWAG Br. at 23, we think the words minimize, impingement, and entrainment are sufficiently clear that, together with the extensive list of suggested technologies, even the industry will be able to understand its responsibilities under the Rule, although, as the Rule itself foresees, the precise requirements can only be determined during the permitting process (in much the same way that regulation of cooling water intake systems has proceeded in the absence of the Rule). Nothing in the Clean Water Act prevents the EPA from retaining a case-by-case approach to certain environmental problems, however. See Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n, 286 F.3d at 566-67 (upholding the EPA's decision to regulate color pollution on a case-by-case basis during the permitting process). We also think the statute allows the EPA to regulate the operation of cooling water intake structures, as the word design can reasonably be read to embrace the methods used in running a structure as well as its physical layout and technical specifications. Finally, the EPA did consider at least some of the suggested technologies and found that they are economically practicable, see Final Rule, 66 Fed.Reg. at 65,275 col. 2; TDD, supra, at 2-3, 2-26 to 2-56, which is all the statute requires, see Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n, 286 F.3d at 570 (noting that section 306 only obligates the EPA to consider cost, not to conduct a cost-benefit analysis). 55 Accordingly, the EPA's decision to regulate some aspects of cooling water intake structures on a site-specific basis is within its authority and reasonable.