United States Office of Water Environmental Protection Washington, DC 20460 December 2018 Agency National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................... iv Foreword .........................................................................................................................................v 1. General .................................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.a - General – Support for Rulemaking ................................................................................ 1-3 1.b - General – Against Rulemaking.................................................................................... 1-55 1.c - General – Comments Outside Scope or Unrelated to Rulemaking ............................. 1-64 2. Permit Application Requirements ........................................................................................ 2-1 2.a - Purpose and Scope (40 CFR 122.1) ............................................................................... 2-2 2.b - NPDES Program Definitions - General (40 CFR 122.2)............................................... 2-3 2.b.i - NPDES Program Definition for Pesticide Applications to Waters of the United States (40 CFR 122.2) .......................................................................................... 2-4 2.b.ii - NPDES Program Definition for Proposed Permit (40 CFR 122.2) – Reserved . 2-29 2.b.iii - NPDES Program Definition for New Discharger (40 CFR 122.2) ................... 2-30 2.b.iv - NPDES Program Definition for Whole Effluent Toxicity (40 CFR 122.2) – Reserved ............................................................................................................. 2-31 2.c - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - General (40 CFR 122.21) .............. 2-32 2.c.i - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - NPDES Contact Information (40 CFR 122.21(a)(2)) ....................................................................................... 2-35 2.c.ii - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - NAICS Codes (40 CFR 122.21(f)(3))....................................................................................................... 2-36 2.c.iii - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Latitude and Longitude (40 CFR 122.21) – Reserved ............................................................................................ 2-44 2.c.iv - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - New Discharger Data Submission (40 CFR 122.21(k)(5)(vi), 122.21(j)(4)(i), and 122.21(j)(5)(i)) .... 2-45 2.c.v - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Data Age for Permit Renewal (40 CFR 122.21(g)(7)(ix) ......................................................................................... 2-55 2.c.vi - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Reporting of Electronic Mail Address (40 CFR 122.21) .................................................................................. 2-70 2.c.vii - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Reporting Numbers of SIUs and NSCIUs (40 CFR 122.21(j)(6)(i))...................................................................... 2-71 2.c.viii - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Cooling Water Intake Structure Indication (40 CFR 122.21(f)(9)) ...................................................................... 2-80 2.c.ix - Changes to Existing Application Requirements - Request for Variance Indication (40 CFR 122.21(f)(10) and 122.21(j)(1)(ix)) ..................................................... 2-84 i National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) 3. Water Quality-Based Permitting Process – Reserved ........................................................ 3-1 3.a - Antidegradation Reference (40 CFR 122.44(d)) – Reserved ........................................ 3-2 3.b - Dilution Allowances (40 CFR 122.44(d)) – Reserved .................................................. 3-3 3.c - Reasonable Potential Determinations for New Discharges (40 CFR 122.44(d)) – Reserved ..................................................................................................................... 3-4 3.d - Best Management Practices (40 CFR 122.44(k)) .......................................................... 3-5 3.e - Anti-backsliding (40 CFR 122.44(l)) – Reserved ........................................................ 3-11 3.f - Design Flow for Publicly Owned Treatment Works (40 CFR 122.45(b)) – Reserved 3-12 4. Permit Objection, Documentation, and Process Efficiencies – Reserved ......................... 4-1 4.a - Objection to Administratively Continued Permits (40 CFR 123.44) – Reserved ......... 4-1 4.b - Public Notice Requirements - General (40 CFR 124.10(c)) ......................................... 4-2 4.b.i - Public Notice Requirements - Public Notice on Websites (40 CFR 124.10(c)) ... 4-8 4.b.ii - Public Notice Requirements - Expansion to Non-major and General Permittees (40 CFR 124.10(c)) ............................................................................................ 4-41 4.b.iii - Public Notice Requirements - Ways to Post Permits and Fact Sheets Online/Linkage to ECHO (40 CFR 124.10(c)) .................................................. 4-50 4.c - Fact Sheet Requirements (40 CFR 124.56) – Reserved .............................................. 4-55 4.d. Deletion of 40 CFR 125.3(a)(1)(ii) ............................................................................... 4-56 5. Vessels Exclusion (40 CFR 122.3(a)) – Reserved ................................................................ 5-1 6. CWA Section 401 Certification Process (40 CFR 124.55(a)(2)) – Reserved ..................... 6-1 7. Overall Burden ....................................................................................................................... 7-1 8. Permit Application Comments Unrelated to Changes in Proposed Rule (Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0146).............................................................................................. 8-1 8.a - Permit Application Comments - Form 1........................................................................ 8-2 8.b - Permit Application Comments - Form 2A .................................................................. 8-10 8.c - Permit Application Comments - Form 2B ................................................................... 8-15 8.d - Permit Application Comments - Form 2C ................................................................... 8-16 8.e - Permit Application Comments - Form 2D ................................................................... 8-30 8.f - Permit Application Comments - Form 2E.................................................................... 8-33 8.g - Permit Application Comments - Form 2F ................................................................... 8-36 8.h - Permit Application Comments - Form 2S ................................................................... 8-41 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) 8.i - General - Comments Outside Scope or Unrelated to Permit Applications .................. 8-44 9. Timeframe for States to Revise Regulations to Comply with Rulemaking ...................... 9-1 Attachment A – Crosswalk of Commenters and Response Codes ....................................... A-1 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments ACRONYMS BMP Best Management Practice CFR Code of Federal Regulations CIU Categorical Industrial User CWA Clean Water Act CWIS Cooling Water Intake Structure DCN Document Control Number ICR Information Collection Request NAICS North American Industrial Classification System NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NSCIU Nonsignificant Categorical Industrial User POTW Publicly Owned Treatment Works PGP Pesticide General Permit SIC Standard Industrial Classification SIU Significant Industrial User iv National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates Final Rule: EPA’s Response to Public Comments FOREWORD This document provides responses to all significant comments submitted on the topics included in the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Specific Provisions Affecting Applications and Program Updates final rule. This rule finalizes a subset of revisions proposed on May 18, 2016 in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Applications and Program Updates proposed rule (81 FR 31343). As explained in the Spring 2018 Regulatory Agenda and the preamble to the final rule, the EPA is taking action on the proposed revisions in two separate but related final actions. Specifically, this first final rule includes revisions