Opinion ID: 445104
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Permits

Text: 12 Each of the permits issued in 1976-77 had identical effluent limitations, monitoring requirements, and reporting requirements. The permits required the miners to treat waste water so that the maximum daily concentration of settleable solids was 0.2 milliliters per liter (ml/l). The permits incorporated the State of Alaska's water quality standard, which limits the increase over natural turbidity to 25 Jackson Turbidity Units (JTU) at a point 500 feet downstream from the discharge point, but did not limit arsenic or mercury discharge. 13 The permits required the miners to conduct periodic monitoring of the discharge water for the concentration of settleable solids, to report the results of their testing to the EPA enforcement division and the State of Alaska, and to allow the State and the EPA to inspect the permittees' premises and to review their records. These permits expired under their own terms after five years. They no longer have any practical or legal effect. 14 The EPA issued a second set of permits in 1983 with different effluent limits and conditions. These permits have also expired. The EPA dismissed the Trustees' request for an adjudicatory hearing; the Trustees did not appeal the dismissal. 15 On June 7, 1984, the EPA issued permits for 1984. These permits differ from both earlier sets in their discharge limitations and monitoring conditions. These permits are not yet final for purposes of judicial review; EPA administrative proceedings are still pending.