TITLE 9. ENVIRONMENT
STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD
Final Regulation
REGISTRAR'S NOTICE: The State Water Control
Board is claiming an exclusion from the Administrative Process Act in
accordance with § 2.2-4006 A 4 a of the Code of Virginia, which excludes
regulations that are necessary to conform to changes in Virginia statutory law
where no agency discretion is involved. The State Water Control Board will
receive, consider, and respond to petitions by any interested person at any
time with respect to reconsideration or revision.
Title of Regulation: 9VAC25-32. Virginia Pollution Abatement (VPA) Permit Regulation (amending 9VAC25-32-140, 9VAC25-32-240).
Statutory Authority: § 62.1-44.15 of the Code of
Virginia.
Effective Date: September 30, 2009.
Agency Contact: William K. Norris,
Department of Environmental Quality, 629 East Main Street, P.O. Box 1105,
Richmond, VA 23218, telephone (804) 698-4022, FAX (804) 698-4347, or email
william.norris@deq.virginia.gov.
Summary:
This action implements the
2009 legislative changes to the State Water Control Law as a result of Chapter
42 of the 2009 Acts of Assembly. These changes clarify public notice
requirements for permit applications for land application acreage increases of
50% or more and clarify when a permit for land application is issued in
relation to the public meeting and public comment opportunity on the
application. The resulting regulatory changes provide that an application for
any permit amendments to increase the acreage authorized by the initial permit
by 50% or more shall be treated as a new application for purposes of public
notice and public hearings and provide that the board shall not issue the
permit for land disposal until the public meeting has been held and comment has
been received from the local governing body, or until 30 days have lapsed from
the date of the public meeting.
Part III
Public Involvement
9VAC25-32-140. Public notice
of VPA permit action and public comment period.
A. Every draft VPA permit
shall be given public notice, paid for by the owner, by publication once a week
for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the area
affected by the pollutant management activity.
B. Interested persons shall
have a period of at least 30 days following the date of the initial newspaper
public notice to submit written comments on the tentative decision and to
request a public hearing.
C. The contents of the
public notice of an application for a VPA permit shall include:
1. The name and address of the applicant. If
the location of the pollutant management activity differs from the address of
the applicant the notice shall also state the location of the pollutant
management activity including storage and land application sites;
2. A brief description of the business or
activity conducted at the facility;
3. A statement of the tentative determination
to issue or deny a VPA permit;
4. A brief description of the final
determination procedure;
5. The address and phone number of a specific
person at the state office from whom further information may be obtained; and
6. A brief description of how to submit
comments and request a hearing.
D. Public notice shall not
be required for submission or approval of plans and specifications or
conceptual engineering reports not required to be submitted as part of the
application.
E. Upon receipt of an
application for a permit or for a modification of a permit, the board shall :
1. Cause to be notified, in writing, the
locality wherein the pollutant management activity does or is proposed to take
place. This notification shall, at a minimum, include:
a. The name of the applicant;
b. The nature of the application and proposed
pollutant management activity; and
c. Upon request, any other information known
to, or in the possession of, the board or the department regarding the
application except as restricted by 9VAC25-32-150.
2. Establish a date for a public meeting to
discuss technical issues relating to proposals for land application of
biosolids or land disposal of treated sewage, stabilized sewage sludge or
stabilized septage. The department shall give notice of the date, time, and
place of the public meeting and a description of the proposal by publication in
a newspaper of general circulation in the city or county where the proposal is
to take place. Public notice of the scheduled meeting shall occur no fewer than
seven or more than 14 days prior to the meeting. The board shall not consider
the application for the proposal to be complete issue the permit
until the public meeting has been held and comment has been received from the
local governing body or until 30 days have lapsed from the date of the public
meeting.
F. Before issuing any
permit, if the board finds that there are localities particularly affected by
the permit, the board shall:
1. Publish, or require the applicant to publish,
a notice in a local paper of general circulation in the localities affected at
least 30 days prior to the close of any public comment period. Such notice
shall contain a statement of the estimated local impact of the proposed permit,
which at a minimum shall include information on the specific pollutants
involved and the total quantity of each which may be discharged; and
2. Mail the notice to the chief elected
official and chief administrative officer and planning district commission for
those localities.
Written comments shall be accepted by the
board for at least 15 days after any public hearing on the permit, unless the
board votes to shorten the period. For the purposes of this section, the term
"locality particularly affected" means any locality which bears any
identified disproportionate material water quality impact which would not be
experienced by other localities.
G. When a site is to be
added to an existing permit authorizing land application of biosolids, the
department shall notify persons residing on property bordering such site, and
shall receive written comments from those persons for a period not to exceed 30
days. Based upon the written comments, the department shall determine whether
additional site-specific requirements should be included in the authorization
for land application at the site.
9VAC25-32-240. Minor
modification.
A. Upon request of the
permittee, or upon board initiative with the consent of the permittee, minor
modifications may be made in the VPA permit without following the public
involvement procedures.
B. Minor modification may
only:
1. Correct typographical errors;
2. Require reporting by the permittee at a
frequency other than that required in the VPA permit;
3. Change an interim compliance date in a
schedule of compliance to no more than 120 days from the original compliance
date and provided it will not interfere with the final compliance date;
4. Allow for a change in name, ownership or
operational control when the board determines that no other change in the VPA
permit is necessary, provided that a written agreement containing a specific
date for transfer of VPA permit responsibility, coverage and liability from the
current to the new permittee has been submitted to the department;
5. Delete the listing of a land application
site when the pollutant management activity is terminated and does not result
in an increase of pollutants which would exceed VPA permit limitations;
6. Reduce VPA permit limitations to reflect a
reduction in the permitted activity when such reduction results from a shutdown
of processes or pollutant generating activities or from connection of the
permitted activity to a POTW;
7. Change plans and specifications where no
other changes in the VPA permit are required;
8. Authorize treatment facility expansions,
production increases or process modifications which will not cause a
significant change in the quantity of pollutants being managed or a significant
change in the nature of the pollutant management activity; or
9. Delete VPA permit limitation or monitoring
requirements for specific pollutants when the activities generating these
pollutants are terminated.
C. An application for a
any permit amendment amendments to increase the acreage
authorized by the initial permit by 50% or more shall be treated as a
new application for purposes of public notice and public hearings.
VA.R. Doc. No. R09-2009;
Filed August 11, 2009, 4:14 p.m.