September 28, 2012
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North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Beverly Eaves Perdue Dee Freeman Governor Secretary September 28, 2012 MEMORANDUM TO: ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COMMISSION The Honorable David Rouzer, Chair The Honorable Mitch Gillespie, Co-Chair The Honorable Ruth Samuelson, Co-Chair FISCAL RESEARCH Mr. Mark Trogdon, Acting Director, Fiscal Research Division FROM: Kari Barsness Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs SUBJECT: Report on Individually Permitted Discharging Systems Beginning July 1, 2011, and Ending June 30, 2012 Fiscal Year 2011-2012 DATE: September 28, 2012 Pursuant to 143-215.9A, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall submit to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division a report on the status of facilities discharging into surface waters during the previous fiscal year by October 1st of each year. Please consider the 2011Individually Permitted Discharging Systems Report attached as the formal submission of this report. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me by phone at (919) 707-8618 or via e-mail at [email protected]. cc: Robin Smith, Assistant Secretary for Environment, NCDENR Chuck Wakild, Director, DWQ, NCDENR Kristin Walker, Fiscal Research Division Mariah Matheson, Research Division, NC General Assembly Lanier McRee, Fiscal Research Division, NC General Assembly 1601 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1601 Phone: 919-707-8600. Internet: www.enr.state.nc.us An Equal Opportunity \ Affirmative Action Employer – 50% Recycled \ 10% Post Consumer Paper Department of Environment and Natural Resources Annual Status Report on Individually Permitted Discharging Systems per N.C.G.S. 143-215.9A For the Period Beginning July 1, 2011, and Ending June 30, 2012. Summary N.C. General Statute (G.S.) 143-215.9A requires the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to report to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division on the status of facilities discharging into surface waters during the previous fiscal year. Facilities discharging into surface waters are required by G.S. 143-215.1 to first apply for and secure a permit from the Environmental Management Commission. As a result, the data provided within this fiscal report is captured for those facilities individually permitted with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The following tables are enclosed summarizing activities for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, per the general statute: Table 1. Status of Civil Penalty Assessments. A summary of the number of enforcement actions taken, civil penalties assessed and collected, and remissions requested. Due to the lengthy assessment process, total civil penalties assessed and total civil penalties collected will not coincide in the same fiscal year. The Division of Water Quality’s current data management system cannot track information on the number of violations found during each inspection, the date of the violation or the nature of the violation. Funding has been allocated for the initial development phase to allow entry and summarization of this information; however, completion of the update will require further funding. Since July 1, 1998, each regional office water quality supervisor has had the authority, through delegation by the director of the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) to sign all civil penalty assessments for fast-track enforcement actions for violations of NPDES Permit effluent limits and/or monitoring frequencies in accordance with G.S. 143-215.6A . Most enforcement actions are based on violations of permit limits or monitoring requirements. However, other enforcement actions may be generated due to other permit condition violations including, but not limited to, discharge violations (resulting from collection system overflows), late submission of Discharge Monitoring Reports, late submission of Toxicity Test results, violations of pretreatment program requirements, improper operation and maintenance of treatment works, or bypass of treatment works. Table 2. Status of Individually Permitted Facilities. A summary of the number and types of permits issued by each regional office, along with the numbers of compliance and other inspections. Other inspections include: • Audit Inspections: a comprehensive review of all elements of a municipality’s pretreatment program, including a records review and an inspection of an industrial facility, conducted once every five years. • Bioassay Compliance Inspections: evaluates the biological effect of a permittee’s effluent discharge on test organisms using acute and chronic toxicity testing. • Compliance Sampling Inspections: a sampling inspection designed to verify the permittee’s compliance with applicable permit self-monitoring requirements. Analytical results from representative samples collected during the inspection are used to evaluate the permittee’s compliance. • Diagnostic Inspections: focuses on publicly owned treatment works that have not achieved permit compliance, to identify the causes of noncompliance, suggest immediate remedies and support current or future enforcement action. • Operation and Maintenance Inspections: focuses on the operation and maintenance aspect of a facility. • Performance Audit Inspections: inspections that include actual observation of the permittee performing the self-monitoring process from sample collection and flow measurements through laboratory analyses, data work-up and reporting. • Pre-Treatment Inspections: an annual inspection of a municipal’s pretreatment program. • Toxicity Sampling Inspections: similar to Compliance Sampling Inspections, with increased emphasis placed on toxic substances regulated by the NPDES permit. Table 3. Status of Special Orders by Consent (SOCs). Special Orders by Consent are a mutually (between the state and the permittee) agreed order that establish timelines and relaxed permit limits to correct a problem of noncompliance while minimizing costs and damage to human health and the environment. Table 4. Names and Locations of Individually Permitted Discharging Systems. The names and locations of the individually permitted discharging facilitiessorted by Regional Office. Regional Offices locations are abbreviated as follows: ARO – Asheville Regional Office WARO – Washington Regional Office FRO – Fayetteville Regional Office WIRO – Wilmington Regional Office MRO – Mooresville Regional Office WSRO – Winston-Salem Regional Office RRO – Raleigh Regional Office 2 Table 1 Status of Civil Penalty Assessments For the Period Beginning July 1, 2011, and Ending June 30, 2012* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number Of Enforcement + Actions Assessed 82 18 44 74 29 37 29 313 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions Assessed In The Central Office++ 600435119 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions Assessed By The Regional Supervisors 76 18 44 70 26 32 28 294 Enforcement Actions Generated From Limit &/or Monitoring Violations 71 17 42 70 22 30 28 280 Enforcement Actions Generated From Other Permit Condition Violations 1112477133 Total Civil Penalties Assessed $103,866.38 $21,853.28 $38,011.30 $65,835.42 $73,391.83 $169,826.04 $23,908.16 $496,692.41 Total Civil Penalties Collected+++ $51,715.46 $34,584.11 $101,514.52 $47,841.48 $50,568.29 $44,175.94 $14,766.33 $345,166.13 Remission & Contested Case Responses to Enforcement Actions Total Number Of Remission Requests 294 1018102 9 82 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions With Partial Or Full Remission By The Director 113461983393 Total Number Of Remission Requests Pending The Director's Decision 174 5227115 8 124 Total Number Of Remission Requests Pending The EMC's Final Agency Decision 253 5119125 5 120 Total Number Of Contested Cases (known at this time) 5000110 7 * Fiscal year numbers are reported as of 9/7/2012 and may vary from actual due to delays in data entry. + Data based on penalty assessment approved date; violations assessed may have occurred outside of the fiscal year date range. ++ Includes assessments by the Environmental Sciences Section. +++ Penalties collected may not include penalties assessed during this reporting fiscal year and may include penalties assessed outside this fiscal year date range. 1 of 46 Table 2 Status of Individually Permitted Facilities For the Period Beginning July 1, 2011, and Ending June 30, 2012* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number Of Individually Permitted Facilities 263 76 211 193 124 116 247 1230 Major Municipal Permitted Facilities 22 22 29 32 16 10 25 156 Major Non-Municipal Permitted Facilities 7 7 17 8 7 10 5 61 Minor Municipal Permitted Facilities 25 18 24 15 19 18 19 138 Minor Non-Municipal Permitted Facilities 209 29 141 138 82 78 198 875 Number Of NPDES Permits Issued 35 17 23 47 14 39 71 246 Major Municipal Permits Issued 356832128 Major Non-Municipal Permits Issued 232335119 Minor Municipal Permits Issued 320308622 Minor Non-Municipal Permits Issued 27 7 15 33 8 24 63 177 Total Number Of Compliance Evaluation Inspections Completed 68 48 91 117 60 47 166 597 Total Number Of Other Inspections Completed 27 15 44 25 49 18 40 218 Table 3 Status of Special Orders By Consent (SOCs) For the Period Beginning July 1, 2011, and Ending June 30, 2012* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number of Individually Permitted Facilities With Active SOCs 223117117 Total Number of Individually Permitted Facilities Requesting New or Amended SOCs 110244113 * Fiscal year numbers are reported as of 9/7/2012