Notice of Availability of Preliminary 2006 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan, 51042-51060 [05-17032]
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51042
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 166 / Monday, August 29, 2005 / Notices
The CPIP presents an array of
conceptual long-term port improvement
scenarios, some of which would involve
future federal activities were they to be
advanced to the status of a real project.
Any future port-improvement projects
involving federal actions, as defined
under NEPA, would be required to
undergo the applicable environmental
review process. Given the considerable
time period before the conceptual
improvements identified in the CPIP
Plan would become actual proposed
projects with sponsors, a detailed
environmental review and analysis, as
conducted in an EIS, is not warranted at
this time. As a result, the Federal colead agencies are canceling the EIS
process. In the short-term, a
programmatic analysis in the form of an
Environmental Assessment will be
prepared to identify what type of
environmental review could be
expected of any improvement projects
that may be proposed. This
programmatic Environmental
Assessment will be available for public
review in Fall 2005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Grace Musumeci, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, (212) 637–3738;
Bryce Wisemiller, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, (917) 790–8307; Richard E.
Backlund, Federal Highway
Administration, (212) 668–2205.
Dated: August 4, 2005.
Kathleen C. Callahan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 05–17125 Filed 8–26–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[OW–2004–0032; FRL–7959–8]
RIN 2040–AE76
Notice of Availability of Preliminary
2006 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of preliminary 2006
Effluent Guidelines Program Plan;
request for comments.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Under the Clean Water Act
(CWA), EPA establishes national
technology-based regulations known as
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards to reduce pollutant discharges
from categories of industry discharging
directly to waters of the United States or
discharging indirectly through Publicly
Owned Treatment Works (POTWs). The
CWA sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g),
and 307(b) require EPA to annually
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review these effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards. Today’s notice
first presents EPA’s 2005 review of its
existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards. It also presents
EPA’s evaluation of categories of
indirect dischargers without
pretreatment standards to identify
potential new categories for
pretreatment standards. CWA section
304(m) requires EPA to biennially
publish an effluent guidelines program
plan and provide for public notice and
comment on such plan. Therefore, this
notice also presents the preliminary
2006 effluent guidelines program plan.
Included in the preliminary 2006 plan
is a solicitation for comments and data
on industry categories that may be
discharging non-trivial amounts of toxic
or non-conventional pollutants and are
not currently subject to any effluent
guidelines. Finally, this notice provides
a second opportunity for public notice
and comment on the draft Strategy for
National Clean Water Industrial
Regulations (‘‘draft Strategy’’), see 67 FR
71165 (November 29, 2002).
DATES: If you wish to comment on any
portion of this notice, EPA must receive
your comments by October 28, 2005.
EPA will conduct a public meeting on
20 September 2005, from 9 a.m. to 12
p.m. Eastern Standard Time. For
information on the location of the
public meeting, see ADDRESSES section.
ADDRESSES: Identify your comments,
data and information relating to the
Agency’s draft Strategy; by Docket ID
No. OW–2002–0020. Identify all other
comments, data and information
relating to this notice by Docket ID No.
OW–2004–0032. Submit your
comments, data and information by one
of the following methods:
A. Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
B. Agency Website: https://
www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, EPA’s
electronic public docket and comment
system, is EPA’s preferred method for
receiving comments, data, and
information. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
C. E-mail: OW-Docket@epa.gov.
D. Mail: Water Docket, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mailcode: 4101T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460, Attention
Docket ID No. OW–2004–0032. For
comments, data, and information on the
draft Strategy, use Docket ID No. OW–
2002–0020.
E. Hand Delivery: Water Docket, EPA
Docket Center, EPA West, Room B102,
1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC, Attention Docket ID
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No. OW–2004–0032. Use Docket ID No.
OW–2002–0020 for comments, data, and
information on the draft Strategy. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the
Docket’s normal hours of operation, and
special arrangements should be made
for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments,
data, and information to Docket ID No.
OW–2004–0032. For comments, data,
and information on the draft Strategy,
use Docket ID No. OW–2002–0020.
EPA’s policy is that all comments, data,
and information received will be
included in the public docket without
change and may be made available
online at https://www.epa.gov/edocket,
including any personal information
provided, unless the material includes
information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit
through EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or
e-mail information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected. The EPA
EDOCKET and the federal
regulations.gov websites are
‘‘anonymous access’’ systems, which
means EPA will not know your identity
or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comment.
If you send an e-mail comment directly
to EPA without going through
EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your
e-mail address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the public
docket and made available on the
Internet. If you submit an electronic
comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name and other contact
information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD–ROM
you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties
and cannot contact you for clarification,
EPA may not be able to consider your
comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form
of encryption, and be free of any defects
or viruses. For additional information
about EPA’s public docket visit
EDOCKET on-line or see the Federal
Register of May 31, 2002 (67 FR 38102).
For additional instructions on obtaining
access to comments, go to section I.B of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
of this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the EDOCKET index at
https://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although
listed in the index, some information is
not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other
material, such as copyrighted material,
is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 166 / Monday, August 29, 2005 / Notices
form. Publicly available docket
materials are available either
electronically in EDOCKET or in hard
copy at the Water Docket, EPA/DC, EPA
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The Public
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding Federal holidays. The
telephone number for the Public
Reading Room is (202) 566–1744, and
the telephone number for the Water
Docket is (202) 566–2426.
Public Meeting: EPA will hold an
informational public meeting for
interested stakeholders in the EPA East
Building, Room 1153 (also known as the
‘‘Great Room’’ or the ‘‘Map Room’’),
1201 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC. For more information
on the details and location of the public
meeting, see section I.C.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Carey A. Johnston at (202) 566–1014 or
johnston.carey@epa.gov, or Ms. Jan
Matuszko at (202) 566–1035 or
matuszko.jan@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
program plan under CWA section
304(m) (‘‘Plan’’). EPA anticipates
completing the final 2006 Plan by
August 2006. As required by CWA
section 304(m), the final Plan will: (1)
Present a schedule for EPA’s annual
review of existing effluent guidelines
under CWA section 304(b) and a
schedule for any effluent guidelines
revisions; and (2) identify industries for
which EPA has not promulgated
effluent guidelines but may decide to do
so through rulemaking and a schedule
for these rulemakings.
B. How Can I Get Copies of Related
Information?
I. General Information
1. Docket
EPA has established an official public
docket for the Agency’s 2005 and 2006
annual reviews of existing effluent
limitations guidelines and pretreatment
standards under CWA sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), and 307(b), and the 2006
Plan under CWA section 304(m) under
Docket ID No. OW–2004–0032. EPA has
established an official public docket for
the Agency’s draft Strategy under
Docket ID No. OW–2002–0020. The
official public docket consists of the
documents specifically referenced in
this action, any public comments
received, and other information related
to this action. Although a part of the
official docket, Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute
is not included in the materials
available to the public. The official
public docket is the collection of
materials that is available for public
viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA
Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West,
Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket
Center Public Reading Room is open
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the
Public Reading Room is (202) 566–1744,
and the telephone number for the Water
Docket is (202) 566–2426.
A. Regulated Entities
Today’s notice does not contain
regulatory requirements. Rather, today’s
notice describes: (1) The Agency’s 2005
annual review of existing effluent
limitations guidelines and pretreatment
standards under the Clean Water Act
(CWA) sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g),
and 307(b); (2) EPA’s review of indirect
dischargers without categorical
pretreatment standards to identify
potential new categories for
pretreatment standards under CWA
sections 304(g) and 307(b); and (3) the
preliminary 2006 effluent guidelines
2. Electronic Access
You may access this Federal Register
document electronically through the
EPA Internet under the ‘‘Federal
Register’’ listings at https://
www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. An electronic
version of the public docket is available
through EPA’s electronic public docket
and comment system, EPA Dockets. You
may use EPA Dockets at https://
www.epa.gov/edocket/ to view public
comments, access the index listing of
the contents of the official public
docket, and to access those documents
in the public docket that are available
How Is This Document Organized?
The outline of today’s notice follows:
I. General Information
II. Legal Authority
III. What is the Purpose of Today’s Federal
Register Notice?
IV. Background
V. EPA’s 2005 Annual Review of Existing
Effluent Guidelines and Pretreatment
Standards Under CWA Sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), and 307(b)
VI. EPA’s 2006 Annual Review of Existing
Effluent Guidelines and Pretreatment
Standards Under CWA Sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), and 307(b)
VII. EPA’s Evaluation of Categories of
Indirect Dischargers Without Categorical
Pretreatment Standards to Identify
Potential New Categories for
Pretreatment Standards
VIII. The Preliminary 2006 Effluent
Guidelines Program Plan Under Section
304(m)
IX. Request for Comment and Information
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electronically. Although not all docket
materials may be available
electronically, you may still access any
of the publicly available docket
materials through the docket facility
identified in section I.B.1. Once in the
system, select ‘‘search,’’ then key in the
appropriate docket identification
number.
C. What Are the Public Meeting Details
for the Preliminary Plan?
A public meeting to review the
preliminary 2006 Plan will be held in
Washington, DC (see the DATES and
ADDRESSES sections for the date and
location of the public meeting). The
meeting is open to the public, and
limited seating for the public is
available on a first-come, first-served
basis. For security reasons, we request
that you bring photo identification with
you to the meeting. Also, it will
expedite the process of entering the
building if you contact Ms. Cassandra
Holmes at least three business days
prior to the meeting with your name,
phone number, and any affiliation. Ms.
Holmes can be reached via e-mail at
holmes.cassandra@epa.gov. Please use
‘‘304(m) Public Meeting Attendee’’ in
the e-mail subject line. Ms. Holmes can
also be reached by telephone at (202)
566–1000.
EPA will not distribute meeting
materials in advance of the public
meeting; all materials will be distributed
at the meeting. The purpose of the
public meeting is to: (1) Present the
Agency’s 2005 annual review of existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards under CWA sections 301(d),
304(b), 307(b), and 304(g); (2) present
the Agency’s evaluation of categories of
indirect dischargers without categorical
pretreatment standards to identify
potential new categories for
pretreatment standards under CWA
section 307(b); (3) present the
preliminary 2006 Plan under CWA
section 304(m); (4) review the industry
sectors identified for further
investigation; and (5) identify
information collection activities and
analyses EPA anticipates completing for
the Agency’s 2006 review of effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards
and the final Plan. EPA will not provide
a transcript of the meeting but will
record the meeting minutes for the
docket supporting this action.
Individuals wishing to comment on the
Agency’s review and the preliminary
Plan would need to submit written
comments as described in section I.C. in
order for EPA to consider their
comments in the next annual review
and final Plan.
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If you need special accommodations
at this meeting, including wheelchair
access or special audio-visual support
needs, you should contact Ms. Holmes
at least seven days prior to the meeting
so that we can make appropriate
arrangements. For those unable to
attend the meeting, a copy of the
presentation and meeting materials will
be posted on the EPA Dockets website
at: https://www.epa.gov/edocket/ and
EPA’s Effluent Guidelines Planning web
site at: https://www.epa.gov/guide/
plan.html.
Please note that parking is very
limited in downtown Washington, and
we recommend you use public transit.
The EPA Headquarters complex is
located near the Federal Triangle Metro
station. Upon exiting the Metro station,
walk east to 12th Street. On 12th Street,
walk south to Constitution Avenue. At
the corner, turn right onto Constitution
Avenue and proceed to the entrance at
the EPA East Building, 1201
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,
DC.
II. Legal Authority
Today’s notice is published under the
authority of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. 1251,
et seq., and in particular sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), 304(m), 306, and 307(b),
33 U.S.C. 1311(d), 1314(b), 1314(g),
1314(m), 1316, and 1317.
III. What Is the Purpose of Today’s
Federal Register Notice?
Today’s notice presents EPA’s 2005
review of its existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards. It also
presents EPA’s evaluation of indirect
dischargers without categorical
pretreatment standards to identify
potential new categories for
pretreatment standards. CWA section
304(m) requires EPA to biennially
publish an effluent guidelines program
plan and provide for public notice and
comment on such plan. Therefore, this
notice also presents the preliminary
2006 effluent guidelines program plan.
Included in the preliminary 2006 plan
is a solicitation for comments and data
on industry categories that may be
discharging non-trivial amounts of toxic
or non-conventional pollutants and are
not currently subject to effluent
guidelines. Finally, this notice provides
a second opportunity for public notice
and comment on the draft Strategy for
National Clean Water Industrial
Regulations (‘‘draft Strategy’’), see 67 FR
71165 (November 29, 2002).
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IV. Background
A. What Are Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards?
The CWA directs EPA to promulgate
effluent limitations guidelines and
standards that reflect pollutant
reductions that can be achieved by
categories or subcategories of industrial
point sources using specific
technologies. See CWA sections
301(b)(2), 304(b), 306, 307(b), and
307(c). For point sources that introduce
pollutants directly into the waters of the
United States (direct dischargers), the
effluent limitations guidelines and
standards promulgated by EPA are
implemented through National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permits. See CWA sections
301(a), 301(b), and 402. For sources that
discharge to publicly owned treatment
works (POTWs) (indirect dischargers),
EPA promulgates pretreatment
standards that apply directly to those
sources and are enforced by POTWs and
State and Federal authorities. See CWA
sections 307(b) and (c).
1. Best Practicable Control Technology
Currently Available (BPT)—CWA
Sections 301(b)(1)(A) & 304(b)(1)
EPA defines Best Practicable Control
Technology Currently Available (BPT)
effluent limitations for conventional,
toxic, and non-conventional pollutants.
Section 304(a)(4) designates the
following as conventional pollutants:
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5),
total suspended solids, fecal coliform,
pH, and any additional pollutants
defined by the Administrator as
conventional. The Administrator
designated oil and grease as an
additional conventional pollutant on
July 30, 1979. See 44 FR 44501 (July 30,
1979). EPA has identified 65 pollutants
and classes of pollutants as toxic
pollutants, of which 126 specific
substances have been designated
priority toxic pollutants. See Appendix
A to part 423. All other pollutants are
considered to be non-conventional.
In specifying BPT, EPA looks at a
number of factors. EPA first considers
the total cost of applying the control
technology in relation to the effluent
reduction benefits. The Agency also
considers the age of the equipment and
facilities, the processes employed, and
any required process changes,
engineering aspects of the control
technologies, non-water quality
environmental impacts (including
energy requirements), and such other
factors as the EPA Administrator deems
appropriate. See CWA section
304(b)(1)(B). Traditionally, EPA
establishes BPT effluent limitations
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based on the average of the best
performances of facilities within the
industry of various ages, sizes,
processes, or other common
characteristics. Where existing
performance is uniformly inadequate,
BPT may reflect higher levels of control
than currently in place in an industrial
category if the Agency determines that
the technology can be practically
applied.
2. Best Conventional Pollutant Control
Technology (BCT)—CWA Sections
301(b)(2)(E) & 304(b)(4)
The 1977 amendments to the CWA
required EPA to identify effluent
reduction levels for conventional
pollutants associated with Best
Conventional Pollutant Control
Technology (BCT) for discharges from
existing industrial point sources. In
addition to considering the other factors
specified in section 304(b)(4)(B) to
establish BCT limitations, EPA also
considers a two part ‘‘costreasonableness’’ test. EPA explained its
methodology for the development of
BCT limitations in 1986. See 51 FR
24974 (July 9, 1986).
3. Best Available Technology
Economically Achievable (BAT)—CWA
Sections 301(b)(2)(A) & 304(b)(2)
For toxic pollutants and nonconventional pollutants, EPA
promulgates effluent guidelines based
on the Best Available Technology
Economically Achievable (BAT). See
CWA section 301(b)(2)(A), (C), (D) & (F).
The factors considered in assessing BAT
include the cost of achieving BAT
effluent reductions, the age of
equipment and facilities involved, the
process employed, potential process
changes, non-water quality
environmental impacts, including
energy requirements, and other such
factors as the EPA Administrator deems
appropriate. See CWA section
304(b)(2)(B). The technology must also
be economically achievable. See CWA
section 301(b)(2)(A). The Agency retains
considerable discretion in assigning the
weight accorded to these factors. BAT
limitations may be based on effluent
reductions attainable through changes
in a facility’s processes and operations.
Where existing performance is
uniformly inadequate, BAT may reflect
a higher level of performance than is
currently being achieved within a
particular subcategory based on
technology transferred from a different
subcategory or category. BAT may be
based upon process changes or internal
controls, even when these technologies
are not common industry practice.
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4. New Source Performance Standards
(NSPS)—CWA Section 306
New Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) reflect effluent reductions that
are achievable based on the best
available demonstrated control
technology. New sources have the
opportunity to install the best and most
efficient production processes and
wastewater treatment technologies. As a
result, NSPS should represent the most
stringent controls attainable through the
application of the best available
demonstrated control technology for all
pollutants (i.e., conventional, nonconventional, and priority pollutants).
In establishing NSPS, EPA is directed to
take into consideration the cost of
achieving the effluent reduction and any
non-water quality environmental
impacts and energy requirements.
5. Pretreatment Standards for Existing
Sources (PSES)—CWA Section 307(b)
Pretreatment Standards for Existing
Sources (PSES) are designed to prevent
the discharge of pollutants that pass
through, interfere with, or are otherwise
incompatible with the operation of
publicly-owned treatment works
(POTWs), including sludge disposal
methods at POTWs. Pretreatment
standards for existing sources are
technology-based and are analogous to
BAT effluent limitations guidelines.
The General Pretreatment
Regulations, which set forth the
framework for the implementation of
national pretreatment standards, are
found at 40 CFR part 403.
6. Pretreatment Standards for New
Sources (PSNS)—CWA Section 307(c)
Like PSES, Pretreatment Standards for
New Sources (PSNS) are designed to
prevent the discharges of pollutants that
pass through, interfere with, or are
otherwise incompatible with the
operation of POTWs. PSNS are to be
issued at the same time as NSPS. New
indirect dischargers have the
opportunity to incorporate into their
facilities the best available
demonstrated technologies. The Agency
considers the same factors in
promulgating PSNS as it considers in
promulgating NSPS.
B. What Are EPA’s Review and Planning
Obligations Under Sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), 304(m), and 307(b)?
1. EPA’s Review and Planning
Obligations Under Sections 301(d),
304(b), and 304(m)—Direct Dischargers
Section 304(b) requires EPA to review
its existing effluent guidelines for direct
dischargers each year and to revise such
regulations ‘‘if appropriate.’’ Section
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304(m) supplements the core
requirement of section 304(b) by
requiring EPA to publish a plan every
two years announcing its schedule for
performing this annual review and its
schedule for rulemaking for any effluent
guideline selected for possible revision
as a result of that annual review. Section
304(m) also requires the plan to identify
categories of sources discharging nontrivial amounts of toxic or nonconventional pollutants for which EPA
has not published effluent limitations
guidelines under section 304(b)(2) or
NSPS under section 306. See CWA
section 304(m)(1)(B); S. Rep. No. 50,
99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985); WQA87
Leg. Hist. 31. Finally, under section
304(m), the plan must present a
schedule for promulgating effluent
guidelines for industrial categories for
which it has not already established
such guidelines, with final action on
such rulemaking required not later than
three years after the industrial category
is identified in a final Plan. See CWA
section 304(m)(1)(C). EPA is required to
publish its preliminary Plan for public
comment prior to taking final action on
the plan. See CWA section 304(m)(2).
In addition, CWA section 301(d)
requires EPA to review every five years
the effluent limitations required by
CWA section 301(b)(2) and to revise
them if appropriate pursuant to the
procedures specified in that section.
Section 301(b)(2), in turn, requires point
sources to achieve effluent limitations
reflecting the application of the best
available technology economically
achievable (for toxic pollutants and nonconventional pollutants) and the best
conventional pollutant control
technology (for conventional
pollutants), as determined by EPA
under sections 304(b)(2) and 304(b)(4),
respectively. For nearly three decades,
EPA has implemented sections 301 and
304 through the promulgation of
effluent limitations guidelines, resulting
in regulations for 56 industrial
categories. See E.I. du Pont de Nemours
& Co. v. Train, 430 U.S. 113 (1977).
Consequently, as part of its annual
review of effluent limitations guidelines
under section 304(b), EPA is also
reviewing the effluent limitations they
contain, thereby fulfilling its obligations
under section 301(d) and 304(b)
simultaneously.
2. EPA’s Review and Planning
Obligations Under Sections 304(g) and
307(b)—Indirect Dischargers
Section 307(b) requires EPA to revise
its pretreatment standards for indirect
dischargers ‘‘from time to time, as
control technology, processes, operating
methods, or other alternatives change.’’
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51045
See CWA section 307(b)(2). Section
304(g) requires EPA to annually review
these pretreatment standards and revise
them ‘‘if appropriate.’’Although section
307(b) only requires EPA to review
existing pretreatment standards ‘‘from
time to time,’’ section 304(g) requires an
annual review. Therefore, EPA meets its
304(g) and 307(b) review requirements
by reviewing all industrial categories
subject to existing categorical
pretreatment standards on an annual
basis to identify potential candidates for
revision.
Section 307(b)(1) also requires EPA to
promulgate pretreatment standards for
pollutants not susceptible to treatment
by POTWs or that would interfere with
the operation of POTWs, although it
does not provide a timing requirement
for the promulgation of such new
pretreatment standards. EPA, in its
discretion, periodically evaluates
indirect dischargers not subject to
categorical pretreatment standards to
identify potential candidates for new
pretreatment standards. The CWA does
not require EPA to publish its review of
pretreatment standards or identification
of potential new categories, although
EPA is exercising its discretion to do so
in this notice.
EPA intends to repeat this publication
schedule for future pretreatment
standards reviews (e.g., EPA will
publish the 2006 annual pretreatment
standards review in the notice
containing the Agency’s 2006 annual
review of existing effluent guidelines
and the final 2006 Plan). EPA intends
that these coincident reviews will
provide meaningful insight into EPA’s
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards program decision-making.
Additionally, EPA hopes to most
efficiently serve the public with these
coincident reviews whereby this single
notice and future notices serve as the
‘‘one-stop shop’’ source of information
for the Agency’s current and future
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards program reviews.
V. EPA’s 2005 Annual Review of
Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA
Sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b)
A. What Process Did EPA Use to Review
Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA
Section 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b)?
1. Background
In its 2005 annual review, EPA
reviewed all industrial categories
subject to existing effluent limitations
guidelines and pretreatment standards,
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representing a total of 56 point source
categories and over 450 subcategories.
EPA thereby met its obligations to
annually review both existing effluent
limitations guidelines for direct
dischargers under CWA sections 301(d)
and 304(b) and existing pretreatment
standards for indirect dischargers under
CWA sections 304(g) and 307(b).
EPA’s annual review of existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards represents a considerable
effort by the Agency to consider the
hazards to human health or the
environment from industrial point
source category discharges. The 2005
annual reviews, which themselves build
on reviews from previous years, also
reflect a lengthy outreach effort to
involve stakeholders in the review
process. In performing its 2005 annual
review, EPA considered all information
and data submitted to EPA as part of its
outreach activities. EPA reviewed all
industrial sectors and will conduct more
focused detailed reviews for a select
number of industrial sectors. EPA will
complete these detailed reviews prior to
publication of the final 2006 Plan.
As discussed in more detail below,
EPA uses pollutant loadings information
and technological, economic, and other
information in evaluating whether it
would be appropriate to revise its
promulgated effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards. EPA also
examines the processes and operations
of each category subject to promulgated
effluent guidelines to decide whether it
might be appropriate to address
(through additional subcategories) other
industrial activities that are similar in
terms of type of operations performed,
pollutants and wastewaters generated,
and available pollution prevention and
treatment options. Because issues
associated with such additional
subcategories very often are interwoven
with the structure and requirements of
the existing regulation, EPA believes
that incorporating its review of these
potential subcategories into its annual
review of the larger categories with
which they likely belong is the most
efficient way to fulfill its statutory
obligations under sections 301(d),
304(b), 304(g), and 307(b). This is
especially important in view of the large
number of existing categories and
potential additional subcategories that
EPA must review annually.
One example where EPA established
effluent guidelines for an additional
subcategory under an existing category
is the agricultural refilling
establishments subcategory (Subpart E)
that EPA added to the Pesticide
Chemicals point source category (40
CFR part 455). See 61 FR 57518
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(November 6, 1996). The BPT
limitations in Part 455 did not cover
refilling establishments and their
industrial operations (e.g., refilling of
minibulks) because these industrial
operations did not begin until well after
the limitations were first promulgated.
EPA considered refilling establishments
to be a subcategory of the Pesticide
Chemicals point source category
because of similar types of industrial
operations performed, wastewaters
generated, and available pollution
prevention and treatment options.
EPA’s annual reviews also focus on
identifying pollutants that are not
regulated by an existing effluent
guideline or pretreatment standard for a
point source category but that comprise
a significant portion of the estimated
toxic discharges (as measured by toxicweighted pound equivalents (TWPE))
for that category. EPA believes that it is
reasonable to consider new pollutants
for regulation in the course of reviewing
and revising existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards. EPA has
several reasons for this. First, a newly
identified pollutant might be adequately
addressed through existing regulations
or through the additional control of
already regulated pollutants in an
existing set of effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards. In some cases,
revising existing limitations for one set
of pollutants will address hazards
associated with a newly identified
pollutant, thus obviating the need for
EPA to promulgate specific limitations
for that pollutant. Second, EPA believes
it is necessary to understand the
effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of
existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards in controlling
newly identified pollutants before EPA
can identify potential technology-based
control options for these pollutants. For
example, EPA revised effluent
limitations for the bleached papergrade
kraft and soda and papergrade sulfite
subcategories within the Pulp, Paper,
and Paperboard point source category
(40 CFR part 430) to add BAT
limitations for dioxin, which was not
measurable when EPA first promulgated
these effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards. See 63 FR
18504 (April 15, 1998).
In general, treatment technologies
address multiple pollutants and it is
important to consider their effects
holistically in order to develop
limitations that are both
environmentally protective and
economically achievable. In short, EPA
believes that the appropriateness of
creating an additional subcategory or
addressing a newly identified pollutant
is best considered in the context of
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revising an existing set of effluent
guidelines. Accordingly, EPA performed
these analyses as part of its annual
review of existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards.
2. What factors does EPA consider in its
annual review of effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards under sections
301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and 307(b)?
Section 304(b) and 304(g) direct EPA
to revise existing effluent guidelines ‘‘if
appropriate.’’ In the draft Strategy for
National Clean Water Industrial
Regulations (‘‘draft Strategy’’), see 67 FR
71165 (November 29, 2002), EPA
identified four major factors that the
Agency would aim to examine, in the
course of its annual review, to
determine whether it would be
appropriate to revise an existing set of
effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards for direct and indirect
dischargers.
The first factor EPA considers is the
amount and toxicity of the pollutants in
an industrial category’s discharge and
the extent to which these pollutants
pose a hazard to human health or the
environment. This enables the Agency
to set priorities for rulemaking in order
to achieve the greatest environmental
and health benefits. EPA’s assessment of
hazard also enables the Agency to
indirectly assess the effectiveness of the
pollution control technologies and
processes currently in use by an
industrial category, based on the
amount and toxicity of its dischargers.
This also helps the Agency assess the
extent to which additional regulation
may contribute reasonable further
progress toward the national goal of
eliminating the discharge of all
pollutants, as specified in section
301(b)(2)(A). The second factor
identifies and evaluates the cost and
performance of an applicable and
demonstrated technology, process
change, or pollution prevention
alternative that can effectively reduce
the pollutants remaining in the
industrial category’s wastewater and,
consequently, substantially reduce the
hazard to human health or the
environment associated with these
pollutant discharges. Cost is a factor
specifically identified in section 304(b)
for consideration in establishing BPT,
BAT, and BCT. The third factor
evaluates the affordability or economic
achievability of the technology, process
change, or pollution prevention
measures identified using the second
factor. If the financial condition of the
industry indicates that it would
experience significant difficulties in
implementing the new technology,
process change, or pollution prevention
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measures, EPA might conclude that
Agency resources would be more
effectively spent developing more
efficient, less costly approaches to
reducing pollutant loadings that would
better satisfy applicable statutory
requirements.
The fourth factor addresses
implementation and efficiency
considerations and recommendations
from stakeholders. Here, EPA considers
opportunities to eliminate inefficiencies
or impediments to pollution prevention
or technological innovation, or
opportunities to promote innovative
approaches such as water quality
trading, including within-plant trading.
For example, in the 1990s, industry
requested in comments on the Offshore
and Coastal Oil and Gas Extraction (40
CFR part 435) effluent guidelines
rulemakings that EPA revise these
effluent guidelines because they
inhibited the use of a new pollution
prevention technology (synthetic-based
drilling fluids). EPA agreed that
revisions to these effluent guidelines
were appropriate for promoting
synthetic-based drilling fluids as a
pollution prevention technology and
promulgated revisions to the Oil and
Gas Extraction point source category.
See 66 FR 6850 (Jan. 22, 2001). This
factor might also prompt EPA, during an
annual review, to decide against
identifying an existing set of effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards for
revision where the pollutant source is
already efficiently and effectively
controlled by other regulatory or nonregulatory programs.
EPA intends to finalize the draft
Strategy in connection with the final
2006 Plan. EPA first solicited public
comments in the November 29, 2002,
Federal Register notice (67 FR 71165)
announcing the availability of the draft
Strategy. EPA received 22 public
comments on the draft Strategy and
these are included in Docket ID No.
OW–2002–0020. EPA again solicits
public comment on the draft Strategy.
Commenters should follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on the draft Strategy listed in DATES and
ADDRESSES sections in this notice. In
particular, commenters should send
their comments, data, and information
on the draft Strategy to the Agency
using Docket ID No. OW–2002–0020.
3. How did EPA’s 2004 annual review
influence its 2005 annual review of
point source categories with existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards?
In view of the annual nature of its
reviews of existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards, EPA
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believes that each annual review can
and should influence succeeding annual
reviews, e.g., by indicating data gaps,
identifying new pollutants or pollution
reduction technologies, or otherwise
highlighting industrial categories for
more detailed scrutiny in subsequent
years. During its 2004 annual review,
which concluded in September 2004,
EPA completed detailed studies for two
industrial categories: Organic
Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic
Fibers (OCPSF) (Part 414); and
Petroleum Refining (Part 419). In
addition, EPA identified nine other
priority industrial categories as
candidates for detailed study in future
reviews based on the toxic discharges
reported to TRI and PCS. EPA
summarized its findings in the
‘‘Technical Support Document for the
2004 Effluent Guidelines Program
Plan,’’ EPA–821–R–04–014, August
2004. EPA’s 2004 annual review,
including stakeholder comments
received as of that date, is discussed in
the comment response document in the
record supporting that action. See
Docket OW–2003–0074, Document No.
OW–2003–0074–1345.
EPA used the findings, data and
comments from the 2004 annual review
to inform its 2005 annual review. For
example, in its 2005 review, EPA
gathered more data for industrial
categories identified for future study in
the 2004 annual review, and began a
detailed study of two of these categories
(i.e., Steam Electric Power Generation
and Pulp, Paper and Paperboard
Manufacturing). Although the OCPSF
and Petroleum Refining categories again
ranked high in terms of TWPE
discharged, EPA did not conduct a new
detailed study of these categories, as
EPA’s 2004 detailed study of these
categories had revealed that effluent
guidelines revisions were not warranted
at that time. In 2005, EPA confirmed
that its findings in the 2004 annual
review, which used TRI and PCS data
from year 2000, were still applicable
based on the 2002 TRI and PCS data
used in the 2005 annual review.
During the 2003 and 2004 reviews,
EPA developed methodologies for
screening level analysis of discharge
data in TRI and PCS as well as for
detailed review of prioritized categories.
The 2005 review built on the previous
reviews by continuing to use the
screening level methodology,
incorporating some refinements to
assigning discharges to categories and
updating toxic weighting factors used to
estimate potential hazards of toxic
pollutant discharges.
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4. What actions did EPA take in
performing its 2005 annual reviews of
existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards?
a. Screening-Level Review
The first component of EPA’s 2005
annual review consisted of a screeninglevel review of all industrial categories
subject to existing effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards. As a starting
point for this review, EPA examined
screening-level data from its 2004
annual reviews. In its 2004 annual
reviews, EPA focused its efforts on
collecting and analyzing data to identify
industrial categories whose pollutant
discharges potentially pose the greatest
hazard to human health or the
environment because of their toxicity
(i.e., highest estimates of toxic-weighted
pollutant discharges). In particular, EPA
ranked point source categories
according to their discharges of toxic
and non-conventional pollutants
(reported in units of toxic-weighted
pound equivalent or TWPE), based
primarily on data from the Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI) and the Permit
Compliance System (PCS). EPA
calculated the TWPE using pollutantspecific toxic weighting factors (TWFs).
Where data are available, these TWFs
reflect both aquatic life and human
health effects. For each facility that
reports to TRI and PCS, EPA multiplies
the pounds of discharged pollutants by
pollutant-specific TWFs. This
calculation results in an estimate of the
discharged toxic-weighted pound
equivalents (TWPE) which EPA then
uses to assess the hazard posed by these
toxic and non-conventional pollutant
discharges to human health or the
environment. EPA repeated this process
for the 2005 annual reviews using the
most recent data (2002). EPA also
considered implementation and
efficiency issues raised by EPA Regions
and stakeholders. The full description of
EPA’s methodology for the 2005
screening-level review is presented in
the Docket accompanying this notice
(see OW–2004–0032–0017).
EPA is continuously investigating and
solicits comment on how to improve its
analyses. EPA made a few such
improvements to the screening-level
review methodology from the 2004 to
the 2005 annual review. EPA updated
the TWFs and its estimate of average
POTW pollutant removal efficiencies for
a number of pollutants. Prior to
publication of the final 2006 Plan, EPA
will start the process for conducting a
peer review of its development and use
of TWFs. EPA also included pollutant
loadings from potential new
subcategories in their respective parent
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industrial category totals (e.g., the
pollutant loadings from petroleum bulk
stations and terminals (SIC 5171) were
included in the pollutant loadings for
the Petroleum Refining point source
category (40 CFR part 419)).
EPA also combined the estimated
discharges of toxic and nonconventional pollutants calculated from
the TRI and PCS databases to estimate
the total TWPE for each category. In the
2003 and 2004 annual reviews, EPA
separately evaluated the TWPE
estimates from the TRI and PCS
databases. EPA finds that combining the
TWPE estimates from the TRI and PCS
databases into a single TWPE number
offers a clearer perspective of the
industries with the most toxic pollution.
Different pollutants may dominate the
TRI and PCS TWPE estimates for an
industrial category due to the
differences in pollutant reporting
requirements between the TRI and PCS
databases. The single TWPE number for
each category highlights those
industries with the most toxic discharge
data in both TRI and PCS. Although this
approach could have theoretically led to
double-counting, EPA’s review of the
data indicates that because the two
databases focus on different pollutants,
double-counting was minimal and did
not affect the ranking of the top ranked
industrial categories (see OW–2004–
0032–0016 and 0017). EPA specifically
solicits comment on these revisions to
its screening-level review methodology.
EPA also developed and used a
quality assurance project plan (QAPP) to
document the type and quality of data
needed to make the decisions in this
annual review and to describe the
methods for collecting and assessing
those data (see OW–2004–0032–0050).
EPA used the following document to
develop the QAPP for this annual
review: ‘‘EPA Requirements for QA
Project Plans (QA/R–5), EPA–240-B01–
003.’’ Using the QAPP as a guide, EPA
performed extensive quality assurance
checks on the data used to develop
estimates of toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges (i.e., verifying data reported
to TRI and the PCS) to determine if any
of the pollutant discharge estimates
relied on incorrect or suspect data. For
example, EPA contacted facilities and
permit writers to confirm and, as
necessary, corrected TRI and PCS data
for facilities EPA identified in its
screening-level review as the significant
dischargers of toxic and nonconventional pollution.
Based on this methodology, EPA was
able to prioritize its review of industries
that offered the greatest potential for
reducing hazard to human health and
the environment. EPA assigned those
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categories with the lowest estimates of
toxic weighted pollutant discharges a
lower priority for revision (i.e.,
industrial categories marked ‘‘3’’ in the
‘‘Findings’’ column in Table V–1).
In order to further focus its inquiry
during the 2005 annual review, EPA did
not prioritize for additional review
categories for which effluent guidelines
had been recently promulgated or
revised, or for which effluent guidelines
rulemaking was currently underway (i.e,
industrial categories marked ‘‘1’’ in the
‘‘Findings’’ column in Table V–1). For
example, EPA excluded from additional
review facilities that are associated with
the Vinyl Chloride and Chlor-Alkali
Manufacturing rulemaking currently
underway, subtracting the pollutant
discharges from these facilities in its
2005 hazard assessment of the OCPSF
and Inorganic Chemicals point source
categories to which they belong.
Additionally, EPA applied less scrutiny
to industrial categories for which EPA
had promulgated effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards within the past
seven years. EPA chose seven years
because this is the time it customarily
takes for the effects of effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards to
be fully reflected in pollutant loading
data and TRI reports (in large part
because effluent limitations guidelines
are often incorporated into NPDES
permits only upon re-issuance, which
could be up to five years after the
effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards are promulgated). Because
there are 56 point source categories
(including over 450 subcategories) with
existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards that must be
reviewed annually, EPA believes it is
important to prioritize its review so as
to focus on industries where changes to
the existing effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards are most likely
to be needed. In general, industries for
which new or revised effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards
have recently been promulgated are less
likely to warrant such changes.
However, in cases where EPA becomes
aware of the growth of a new segment
within a category for which EPA has
recently revised effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards, or where new
concerns are identified for previously
unevaluated pollutants discharged by
facilities within the industrial category,
EPA would apply more scrutiny to the
category in a subsequent review. EPA
identified no such instance during the
2005 annual review.
EPA identified thirteen industrial
sectors in its 2005 annual review where
the estimated toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges appeared unclear and more
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data were needed to determine their
magnitude (i.e., industrial categories
marked ‘‘(4)’’ or ‘‘(5)’’ in the ‘‘Findings’’
column in Table V–1). For these
industries, EPA intends to collect
additional information for the next
annual review.
As part of its 2005 annual review,
EPA also considered the number of
facilities responsible for the majority of
the estimated toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges associated with an industrial
activity. Where only a few facilities in
a category accounted for the vast
majority of toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges, EPA did not prioritize the
category for additional review (i.e,
categories marked ‘‘(2)’’ in the
‘‘Findings’’ column in Table V–1). EPA
believes that revision of individual
permits may be more effective at
addressing the toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges than a national effluent
guidelines rulemaking because
requirements can be better tailored to
these few facilities, and because
individual permitting actions may take
considerably less time than a national
rulemaking. The Docket accompanying
this notice lists facilities that account
for the vast majority of the estimated
toxic-weighted pollutant discharges for
particular categories (see OW–2004–
0032–0017). For these facilities, EPA
will consider identifying pollutant
control and pollution prevention
technologies that will assist permit
writers in developing facility-specific,
technology-based effluent limitations on
a best professional judgment (BPJ) basis.
In future annual reviews, EPA also
intends to re-evaluate each category
based on the information available at
the time in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the BPJ permit-based
support.
EPA received comments urging the
Agency, as part of its annual review, to
encourage and recognize voluntary
efforts by industry to reduce pollutant
discharges, especially when the
voluntary efforts have been widely
adopted within an industry and the
associated pollutant reductions have
been significant. EPA agrees that
industrial categories demonstrating
significant progress through voluntary
efforts to reduce hazard to human health
or the environment associated with their
effluent discharges would be a
comparatively lower priority for effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards
revision, particularly where such
reductions are achieved by a significant
majority of individual facilities in the
industry. Although during this annual
review EPA could not complete a
systematic review of voluntary pollutant
loading reductions, EPA’s review did
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account for the effects of successful
voluntary programs through taking into
consideration any significant reductions
in pollutant discharges reflected in
discharge monitoring and TRI data, as
well as any data provided directly by
commenters, that EPA used to assess the
toxic-weighted pollutant discharges.
EPA directly assessed the availability
of technology for some—but not all—
industrial categories (see OW–2004–
0032–0016 and 0017). As was the case
in the 2004 annual review, EPA was
unable to gather the data needed to
perform a comprehensive screeninglevel analysis of the availability of
treatment or process technologies to
reduce toxic pollutant wastewater
discharges beyond the performance of
technologies already in place for all of
the 56 existing industrial categories.
However, EPA believes that its analysis
of hazard can also serve as a proxy for
assessing the effectiveness of existing
technologies in terms of the amount and
significance of the pollutants
discharged.
Similarly, EPA could not identify a
suitable screening-level tool for
comprehensively evaluating the
affordability of treatment or process
technologies because the universe of
facilities is too broad and complex. EPA
could not find a reasonable way to
prioritize the industrial categories based
on a broad economic profile. In the past,
EPA has gathered information regarding
technologies and economic
considerations through detailed
questionnaires distributed to hundreds
of facilities within a category or
subcategory for which EPA has
commenced rulemaking. Such
information-gathering is subject to the
requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act, 33 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.
The information acquired in this way is
valuable to EPA in its rulemaking
efforts, but the process of gathering,
validating and analyzing the data—even
for only a few subcategories—can
consume considerable time and
resources. EPA does not think it
appropriate to conduct this level of
analysis prior to identifying an
industrial category for possible
regulation. Consequently, EPA is
working to develop more streamlined
screening-level tools for assessing
technological and economic
achievability as part of future annual
reviews under section 301(d), 304(b),
and 307(b). EPA solicits comment on
how to best identify and use screeninglevel tools for assessing technological
and economic achievability on an
industry-specific basis as part of future
annual reviews.
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In summary, EPA focused its 2005
screening-level review on industrial
categories whose pollutant discharges
potentially pose the greatest hazards to
human health or the environment
because of their toxicity. EPA also
considered efficiency and
implementation issues raised by
stakeholders. By using this multilayered screening approach, the Agency
concentrated its resources on those
point source categories with the highest
estimates of toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges (based on best available
data), while assigning a lower priority to
categories that the Agency believes are
not good candidates for effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards
revision at this time.
b. Detailed Review of Certain Industries
For a number of the industries that
appeared to offer the greatest potential
for reducing hazard to human health or
the environment, EPA gathered and
analyzed additional data on pollutant
discharges, economic factors, and
technology issues during its 2005
annual review. EPA examined: (1)
Wastewater characteristics and
pollutant sources; (2) the pollutants
driving the toxic-weighted pollutant
discharges; (3) treatment technology and
pollution prevention information; (4)
the geographic distribution of facilities
in the industry; (5) any pollutant
discharge trends within the industry;
and (6) any relevant economic factors.
EPA relied on many different sources
of data including: (1) 1997 and 2002
U.S. Economic Census; (2) TRI and PCS
data; (3) contacts with reporting
facilities to verify reported releases and
facility categorization; (4) contacts with
regulatory authorities (states and EPA
regions) to understand how category
facilities are permitted; (5) NPDES
permits and their supporting fact sheets;
(6) EPA effluent guidelines technical
development documents; (7) relevant
EPA preliminary data summaries or
study reports; (8) technical literature on
pollutant sources and control
technologies; (9) information provided
by industry including industry
conducted survey and sampling data;
and (10) stakeholder comments (see
OW–2004–0032–0016, 0017, and 0020).
During its 2005 annual review, EPA
started detailed studies for the Pulp,
Paper, and Paperboard (Part 430) and
Steam Electric Power Generation (Part
423) point source categories because
they represent the two industrial point
source categories with the largest
combined TWPE based on EPA’s
ranking approach. EPA plans to
complete these detailed studies in its
2006 annual review, prior to publication
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of the final 2006 Plan. An expected
outcome of these detailed studies will
be the determination of whether it
would be appropriate to identify these
industrial categories for possible
effluent guidelines revision in the 2006
final Plan. The current status of these
two detailed studies is presented in
section V.B.
c. Preliminary Review of Effluent
Guidelines for Certain Industrial
Categories
In addition to identifying two
categories for detailed studies (see
section V.B.2) during the 2005 screening
level review, EPA identified 11
additional categories with potentially
high TWPE discharge estimates (i.e.,
industrial point source categories with
existing effluent guidelines identified
with ‘‘(5)’’ in the column entitled
‘‘Findings’’ in Table V–1). EPA will
continue to collect and analyze hazard
and technology-based information on
these eleven industrial categories but
will assign a higher priority to
investigating the Pulp, Paper, and
Paperboard and Steam Electric Power
Generation industrial categories. The
docket accompanying this notice
presents a summary of EPA’s findings
on these eleven industrial categories
(see OW–2004–0032–0016).
d. Public Comments on the 2004 Annual
Review
EPA’s annual review process
considers information provided by
stakeholders regarding the need for new
or revised effluent limitations
guidelines and pretreatment standards.
To that end, EPA established a docket
for its 2005 annual review with the
publication of the final 2004 Plan to
provide the public with an opportunity
to provide additional information to
assist the Agency in its annual review.
EPA’s Regional Offices and stakeholders
identified other industrial point source
categories as potential candidates for
revision of effluent limitations
guidelines and pretreatment standards
based on potential opportunities to
improve implementation of these
regulations or because of their pollutant
discharges (see OW–2004–0032–0020).
See section V.B.3. EPA hopes that
public review of the 2005 annual review
and the preliminary Plan in this notice,
as well as public review of future
annual reviews and Plans, will elicit
additional information and suggestions
for improving the Effluent Guidelines
Program.
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B. What Were EPA’s Findings From Its
Annual Review for 2005?
1. Screening-Level Review
The findings of the 2005 annual
review are presented in Table V–1. This
table uses the following codes to
describe the Agency’s findings with
respect to each existing industrial
category.
(1) Effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards for this industrial category
were recently revised or reviewed
through an effluent guidelines
rulemaking or a rulemaking is currently
underway.
(2) National effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards are not the best
tools for establishing technology-based
effluent limitations for this industrial
category because most of the toxic and
non-conventional pollutant discharges
are from one or a few facilities in this
industrial category. EPA will consider
assisting permitting authorities in
identifying pollutant control and
pollution prevention technologies for
the development of technology-based
effluent limitations by best professional
judgment (BPJ) on a facility-specific
basis.
(3) Not identified as a hazard priority
based on data available at this time.
(4) Incomplete data available for full
analysis. EPA intends to complete a
detailed study of this industry for the
final 2006 Plan. See section V.B.2.
(5) Incomplete data available for full
analysis. EPA intends to complete a
preliminary category review of this
industry for the final 2006 Plan. See
section V.A.4.c.
TABLE V–1.—FINDINGS FROM THE 2005 ANNUAL REVIEW OF EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND PRETREATMENT STANDARDS
PROMULGATED UNDER SECTION 301(D), 304(B), 304(G), AND 307(B)
No.
Industry category
(listed alphabetically)
1 ........................
2 ........................
3 ........................
4 ........................
5 ........................
6 ........................
7 ........................
8 ........................
9 ........................
10 ......................
11 ......................
12 ......................
13 ......................
14 ......................
15 ......................
16 ......................
17 ......................
18 ......................
19 ......................
20 ......................
21 ......................
22 ......................
23 ......................
24 ......................
25 ......................
26 ......................
27 ......................
28 ......................
29 ......................
30 ......................
31 ......................
32 ......................
33 ......................
34 ......................
35 ......................
36 ......................
37 ......................
38 ......................
39 ......................
40 ......................
41 ......................
42 ......................
43 ......................
44 ......................
45 ......................
46 ......................
47 ......................
48 ......................
49 ......................
50 ......................
51 ......................
52 ......................
53 ......................
54 ......................
Aluminum Forming .....................................................................................................................
Asbestos Manufacturing .............................................................................................................
Battery Manufacturing ................................................................................................................
Canned and Preserved Fruits and Vegetable Processing .........................................................
Canned and Preserved Seafood Processing .............................................................................
Carbon Black Manufacturing ......................................................................................................
Cement Manufacturing ...............................................................................................................
Centralized Waste Treatment .....................................................................................................
Coal Mining .................................................................................................................................
Coil Coating ................................................................................................................................
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) ...................................................................
Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production ..................................................................................
Copper Forming ..........................................................................................................................
Dairy Products Processing .........................................................................................................
Electrical and Electronic Components .......................................................................................
Electroplating ..............................................................................................................................
Explosives Manufacturing ...........................................................................................................
Ferroalloy Manufacturing ............................................................................................................
Fertilizer Manufacturing ..............................................................................................................
Glass Manufacturing ...................................................................................................................
Grain Mills ...................................................................................................................................
Gum and Wood Chemicals ........................................................................................................
Hospitals .....................................................................................................................................
Ink Formulating ...........................................................................................................................
Inorganic Chemicals ...................................................................................................................
Iron and Steel Manufacturing .....................................................................................................
Landfills .......................................................................................................................................
Leather Tanning and Finishing ...................................................................................................
Meat and Poultry Products .........................................................................................................
Metal Finishing ...........................................................................................................................
Metal Molding and Casting .........................................................................................................
Metal Products and Machinery ...................................................................................................
Mineral Mining and Processing ..................................................................................................
Nonferrous Metals Forming and Metal Powders .......................................................................
Nonferrous Metals Manufacturing ..............................................................................................
Oil and Gas Extraction ...............................................................................................................
Ore Mining and Dressing ...........................................................................................................
Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic Fibers ...................................................................
Paint Formulating .......................................................................................................................
Paving and Roofing Materials (Tars and Asphalt) .....................................................................
Pesticide Chemicals ...................................................................................................................
Petroleum Refining .....................................................................................................................
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing ...................................................................................................
Phosphate Manufacturing ...........................................................................................................
Photographic ...............................................................................................................................
Plastic Molding and Forming ......................................................................................................
Porcelain Enameling ...................................................................................................................
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard .....................................................................................................
Rubber Manufacturing ................................................................................................................
Soaps and Detergents Manufacturing ........................................................................................
Steam Electric Power Generation ..............................................................................................
Sugar Processing .......................................................................................................................
Textile Mills .................................................................................................................................
Timber Products Processing ......................................................................................................
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40 CFR Part
E:\FR\FM\29AUN1.SGM
29AUN1
467
427
461
407
408
458
411
437
434
465
412
451
468
405
469
413
457
424
418
426
406
454
460
447
415
420
445
425
432
433
464
438
436
471
421
435
440
414
446
443
455
419
439
422
459
463
466
430
428
417
423
409
410
429
Findings †
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(5)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(3)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(5)
(1)
(5)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(5)
(5)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(5)
(5)
(2)
(5)
(3)
(4)
(3)
(5)
(3)
and (3)
and (5)
and (2)
and (5)
and (4)
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TABLE V–1.—FINDINGS FROM THE 2005 ANNUAL REVIEW OF EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND PRETREATMENT STANDARDS
PROMULGATED UNDER SECTION 301(D), 304(B), 304(G), AND 307(B)—Continued
No.
Industry category
(listed alphabetically)
55 ......................
56 ......................
Transportation Equipment Cleaning ...........................................................................................
Waste Combustors .....................................................................................................................
40 CFR Part
442
444
Findings †
(1)
(1)
† Note: The descriptions of the ‘‘Findings’’ codes are presented immediately prior to this table.
2. Detailed Studies
As a result of its 2005 screening-level
review, EPA is conducting detailed
studies of two industrial point source
categories with existing effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards:
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard (Part 430)
and Steam Electric Power Generation
(Part 423). During detailed study of
these categories, EPA will first verify
that the pollutant discharges reported to
TRI and PCS for 2002 accurately reflect
the current discharges of the industry.
EPA will also perform an in-depth
analysis of the reported pollutant
discharges, technology innovation and
process changes in these industrial
categories, as well as an analysis of
technology cost and affordability.
Additionally, EPA will consider
whether there are industrial sectors not
currently subject to effluent guidelines
or pretreatment standards that should be
included with these existing categories,
either as part of existing subcategories
or as potential new subcategories. The
purpose of the detailed study is to
determine whether, in the final 2006
Plan, EPA should identify one or both
of these industrial categories for
possible revision of their existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards.
Based on the information available to
EPA at this time, EPA is not proposing
such identification. However, EPA will
determine whether it is appropriate to
identify these categories for possible
revision of their effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards based on the
results of its 2006 annual review and the
two detailed studies, which it intends to
conclude prior to publishing the final
2006 Plan. EPA requests comment and
supporting data on whether it should
identify either or both of these
industrial categories for possible
rulemakings in the final 2006 Plan.
a. Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard (Part
430)
EPA began a detailed study of the
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard point
source category in the 2005 annual
review because it ranked highest in
terms of toxic and non-conventional
pollutant discharges among the
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industrial point source categories
investigated in the screening-level
analyses. The most recent changes to
effluent guidelines for this point source
category, known as part of the ‘‘Cluster
Rules,’’ were new limits for facilities in
the Bleached Papergrade Kraft and Soda
(Subpart B) and Papergrade Sulfite
(Subpart E) subcategories (April 15,
1998; 63 FR 18504). EPA promulgated
new limits for dioxin, furan, chloroform,
chlorinated phenolic compounds, and
adsorbable organic halides (AOX). In the
2005 annual review, EPA reviewed
effluent discharge data for all 78
bleached papergrade kraft and sulfite
mills—the ‘‘Phase I’’ mills. EPA also
reviewed effluent discharges for pulping
mills, secondary (recycled) fiber mills,
and paper and paperboard mills in eight
subcategories (Subparts C and F through
L)—the ‘‘Phase II’’ mills. EPA reviewed
data from PCS for 171 Phase II mills and
data for 169 Phase II mills that reported
to TRI.
EPA did not review effluent discharge
data for the four dissolving kraft and
dissolving sulfite mills (Subparts A and
D)—‘‘Phase III’’ mills. As discussed in
the 2004 annual review, EPA believes
that because of the small number of
facilities, effluent guidelines rulemaking
is not appropriate at this time for these
subcategories. Instead of an effluent
guidelines rulemaking EPA will provide
site-specific permit support to state
permit writers as they develop NPDES
permits for the four facilities in these
two subcategories. These NPDES
permits will include effluent limitations
that reflect a determination of BAT
based on BPJ, or, if necessary, more
stringent limitations to ensure
compliance with state water quality
standards. Therefore, EPA did not
include these four Phase III mills in the
detailed study for this industry.
Phase I and Phase II mills reported
discharges of ‘‘dioxin and dioxin-like
compounds’’ to TRI in 2002 which
resulted in an effluent discharge
estimate of 2.81 million TWPE (66.4
grams of various dioxin congeners).
Phase I mills in PCS in 2002 also
showed discharges of the most toxic
forms of dioxin (i.e., 2,3,7,8–TCDD and
2,3,7,8–TCDF) which resulted in an
effluent discharge estimate of 1.37
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million TWPE (0.9 grams of 2,3,7,8–
TCDD and 2,3,7,8–TCDF). EPA notes
that one mill accounted for more than
99 percent of the PCS dioxin discharges
for this industrial category in 2002. This
mill changed its operations after 2002
and has not reported dioxin releases
since 2002 (see OW–2004–0032–0021).
EPA also notes that with or without the
PCS TWPE from this one mill, this
category ranks higher than any other
category in terms of the estimated
combined TRI and PCS TWPE
discharged to U.S. waters. In its detailed
study of this industrial category EPA
will further verify pollutant discharge
data and assess the impact of these mill
changes and the corresponding 2003
and 2004 pollutant discharges reported
by the mill to TRI and PCS. In the past,
EPA has sometimes found that
apparently high dioxin discharges
reported to TRI may result from
facilities using annual discharge
volumes multiplied by one half the
dioxin analytic method detection limit
for their TRI dioxin release estimates
when dioxin sampling data were ‘‘nondetect.’’ In general, EPA would expect to
have a stronger record basis, with
positive detections of toxic pollutants,
before it identified an industry for a
rulemaking. Other toxic pollutant
discharges for Phase I and II mills that
resulted in additional TWPE discharge
estimates include: polycyclic aromatic
compounds; metals (e.g., manganese,
lead, zinc, mercury); and nitrate.
Key issues the Agency will address in
the detailed study include whether
Phase I and II mills are currently
generating and discharging dioxin; and
whether PCS contains dioxin discharge
data for the Phase II mills. EPA will also
investigate the source and magnitude of
the other toxic pollutants and nonconventional pollutants reported as
discharged by these mills, and whether
there are any new technologies or
process changes for wastewater volume
or pollutant reduction that might
appropriately serve as the basis for
revised effluent guidelines. See section
IX.A. Based on this detailed study, EPA
will determine whether or not to
identify this industrial category for
possible revisions to its effluents
guidelines.
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EPA has already made considerable
progress in investigating pollutant
discharges in this category and has
solicited and received assistance from a
trade association for this industrial
category, the American Forest & Paper
Association (AF&PA), and from the
National Council for Air and Stream
Improvement (NCASI), an independent,
non-profit research institute that focuses
on environmental topics of interest to
the forest products industry. EPA held
a meeting with AF&PA and NCASI and
member companies and the meeting
minutes are included in the docket (see
OW–2004–0032–0048). AF&PA
members provided EPA with 48 NPDES
permits for Phase I mills (representing
62% of the Phase I mills in the
industry). AF&PA also provided written
documentation and data on the details
of TRI release estimates and PCS errors
(see OW–2004–0032–0022). Prior to
completing its 2005 annual review, EPA
did not have time to fully evaluate the
large amount of data submitted by
AF&PA, NCASI, and their member
companies in the context of the 2003
and 2004 pollutant discharges reported
to TRI and PCS. EPA intends to
complete this evaluation in its 2006
annual review. EPA will also continue
to work with AF&PA, NCASI, and other
stakeholders to better understand the
current pollutant discharges by this
category.
b. Steam Electric Power Generation (Part
423)
EPA began a detailed study of the
Steam Electric Power Generation point
source category in the 2005 annual
review because it ranked second highest
in terms of toxic and non-conventional
toxic weighted pollutant discharges
among the industrial point source
categories investigated in the screeninglevel analyses. Effluent guidelines for
direct dischargers were first
promulgated for this category in 1974
(39 FR 36186). In 1977, EPA
promulgated pretreatment standards for
indirect dischargers (42 FR15690). In
1982, EPA made significant revisions to
these effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards (47 FR 52290).
The current effluent guidelines are
applicable to discharges from steam
electric generating units that are
primarily engaged in generating
electricity for distribution and sale and
that use fossil-type or nuclear fuels.
EPA’s screening-level analysis during
the 2005 annual review was based
primarily on information reported to
TRI, PCS, and the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) for the year 2002.
EPA also obtained and reviewed
additional information to supplement
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that data. These data include industrycompiled data on the likely source and
magnitude of the reported toxic
dischargers (see OW–2004–0032–0023).
Pollutants significantly influencing this
category’s hazard ranking include
arsenic, boron, metals (including
mercury), and chlorine.
In this detailed study, EPA plans to
better quantify pollutant discharges in
wastewater discharged by steam electric
facilities. See section IX.A. EPA will
also investigate whether there are any
new technologies or process changes for
wastewater volume or pollutant
reduction that might appropriately serve
as the basis for revised effluent
guidelines. Additionally, EPA will
investigate whether the recently revised
analytic method for mercury better
quantifies the sources and amounts of
mercury in discharged wastewater from
facilities in this category (see October
29, 2002; 67 FR 65876 and OW–2004–
0032–0024).
Additionally, during its review of this
industrial category, EPA received
comments that it should consider
amending the applicability of these
effluent guidelines to include
combined-cycle facilities, refuse-derived
fuel facilities, and industrial nonutilities. Combined-cycle technology
utilizes waste heat created by the
powering of one generator to drive a
second generator, which significantly
increases the amount of electricity
generated by the same amount of fuel.
Refuse-derived fuel facilities generate
electricity from the combustion of
unprocessed or minimally processed
refuse. Industrial non-utilities have
steam electric plants co-located with
other manufacturing or commercial
facilities. These power plants are most
prevalent at chemical, paper, and
petroleum refining facilities and are not
currently regulated by Part 423. EPA is
investigating the similarities and
differences between combined-cycle,
refuse-derived fuel facilities, and
industrial non-utilities and facilities in
the Steam Electric Power Generation
point source category in terms of plant
operation, water use, and potential
pollutants in the wastewaters. EPA
specifically solicits comment and data
on whether EPA should consider
combined-cycle facilities and refusederived fuel facilities as potential new
subcategories in the Steam Electric
Power Generation point source category.
EPA has already made considerable
progress in investigating pollutant
discharges in this category and has
solicited and received assistance from a
trade association for this industrial
category, the Utility Water Action Group
(UWAG). EPA held several meetings
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with UWAG and its member companies
and the meeting minutes are included in
the docket (see OW–2004–0032–0025).
UWAG provided EPA with industrycollected data related to the source and
magnitude of pollutant discharges from
facilities in this category (see OW–
2004–0032–0026). In the 2006 annual
review, EPA will continue to work with
UWAG and other stakeholders to better
understand the current pollutant
discharges in this category.
3. Other Category Reviews Prompted by
Stakeholder Outreach
Following the publication of the 2004
Plan, EPA’s Regional Offices and
stakeholders identified other industrial
point source categories as potential
candidates for effluent guideline
revision based on potential
opportunities to improve efficient
implementation of the national water
quality program or because of the
categories’ pollutant discharges (see
OW–2004–0032–0020 for a listing of
these comments).
a. Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and
Synthetic Fibers (OCPSF) Effluent
Guidelines
Congress has directed the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to
prepare an annual report to Congress on
the costs and benefits of Federal
regulations. See 68 FR 64375 (February
20, 2004). In the 2004 draft report to
Congress, OMB also solicited public
comment for ‘‘nominations of promising
regulatory reforms relevant to the
manufacturing sector, particularly those
relevant to the welfare of small and
medium-sized enterprises.’’ In
particular, OMB requested suggestions
on ‘‘specific reforms to rules, guidance
documents or paperwork requirements
that would improve manufacturing
regulation by reducing unnecessary
costs, increasing effectiveness,
enhancing competitiveness, reducing
uncertainty and increasing flexibility.’’
See ‘‘Draft Report to Congress on the
Costs and Benefits of Federal
Regulations and Unfunded Mandates on
State, Local, and Tribal Entities,’’ https://
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/
draft_2004_cbreport.pdf.
In response to this solicitation two
commenters suggested revisions to the
Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and
Synthetic Fibers (OCPSF) effluent
guidelines (40 CFR part 414). The
commenters suggest that OCPSF
facilities are discouraged by existing
OCPSF effluent guidelines from
installing water re-use and reduction
technologies and pollution prevention
practices and are penalized by more
stringent limits because NPDES permit
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writers recalculate lower mass-based
permit limits based on the reduced
wastewater flow rates when re-issuing
NPDES permits. The commenters
suggest that OCPSF facilities should be
able to retain mass limits of the original
stringency, established prior to
wastewater flow reduction, when
process wastewater flows are reduced
for purposes of water conservation. The
commenters also stated that if process
wastewater flows are decreased for other
reasons, the mass-based limits should
continue to be adjusted pursuant to the
current rule.
As part of the Agency’s commitments
in the President’s Manufacturing
Initiative, EPA began an evaluation of
options for promoting water
conservation through the use of massbased limits as part of its 2005 annual
review of existing effluent guidelines.
See the OMB report to Congress titled,
‘‘Regulatory Reform of the U.S.
Manufacturing Sector,’’ Page 30, March
9, 2005. See https://
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/
regpol-reports_congress.html. EPA
strongly supports water conservation
and encourages all sectors, including
municipal, industrial, and agricultural,
to achieve efficient water use. EPA does
not intend for its regulations to present
a barrier to efficient water use in any
industrial sector.
EPA proposed, and is currently
considering finalizing, greater flexibility
for control authorities to convert
concentration-based pretreatment
standards to flow-normalized massbased permit limits for indirect
dischargers where necessary to facilitate
adoption of water conservation
technologies, provided there is no
increase in the discharge of pollutants to
the environment. See 64 FR 39563 (July
22, 1999). EPA requests comment on
whether it should consider a rulemaking
or other ways that would extend greater
flexibility to permitting authorities to
retain mass-based limits based on
current wastewater flows for direct
discharges where necessary to facilitate
the prospective adoption of water
conservation technologies. EPA is
particularly interested in specific,
detailed examples of situations where
the adoption of water conservation
technologies and practices have or have
not made the achievement of new flownormalized mass-based permit limits
based on the reduced wastewater flow
more difficult. See section IX.G.
b. Stakeholder Identified Industries
With the publication of the final 2004
Plan, EPA solicited public comment to
inform its 2005 annual review of
existing effluent guidelines and
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pretreatment standards. In addition to
the comments identified in the previous
section, EPA received five comments on
how to conduct its annual review and
which industries and pollutants should
be the focus of this review (see OW–
2004–0032–0020). These comments are
located in the docket. EPA considered
relevant information from these
comments in its 2005 annual review.
In particular, industry stakeholders
commented that EPA should revise the
analytical methods in the Oil and Gas
Extraction point source category (40
CFR Part 435, Subpart A) to eliminate
the current differences between the
synthetic-based drilling fluids (SBF)
analytical methods used in the EPA
Region 4 and 6 general permits
regulating offshore oil and gas facilities
in the Eastern and Western Gulf of
Mexico (see OW–2004–0032–0051).
Industry stakeholders also supplied
additional data and suggested that EPA
change the sediment toxicity analytical
methods to account for analytical
method variability (see OW–2004–
0032–0007). See section IX.H.
VI. EPA’s 2006 Annual Review of
Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA
Sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b)
As discussed in section V and further
in section VIII, EPA is coordinating its
annual review of existing effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards
under CWA sections 301(d), 304(b),
307(b) and 304(g) with the publication
of a preliminary and biennial Plan
under section 304(m). Public comments
received on EPA’s prior reviews and
Plans helped the Agency to prioritize its
analysis of existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards during the
2005 review. The information gathered
during the 2005 annual review,
including the identification of data gaps
in the analysis of certain existing
industry categories, in turn, provides a
starting point for EPA’s 2006 annual
review. See Table V–1 above. In 2006,
EPA intends to conduct a screeninglevel analysis of all 56 industry
categories and compare the results
against those from previous years. EPA
will also conduct more detailed
analyses of those industries that rank
high in terms of toxic and nonconventional discharges among all point
source categories. EPA specifically
invites comment and data on the 56
point source categories.
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51053
VII. EPA’s Evaluation of Categories of
Indirect Dischargers Without
Categorical Pretreatment Standards To
Identify Potential New Categories for
Pretreatment Standards
As noted in 40 CFR 403.2, the three
principal objectives of the National
Pretreatment Program are to: (1) Prevent
the wide-scale introduction of
pollutants into publicly owned
treatment works (POTWs) that will
interfere with POTW operations,
including use or disposal of municipal
sludge; (2) prevent the introduction of
pollutants into POTWs which will pass
through the treatment works or will
otherwise be incompatible with the
treatment works; and (3) improve
opportunities to recycle and reclaim
municipal and industrial wastewaters
and sludges. See Introduction to the
National Pretreatment Program, EPA–
833–B–98–002, February 1999.
All indirect dischargers are subject to
general pretreatment standards (40 CFR
part 403), including a prohibition on
discharges causing ‘‘pass through’’ or
‘‘interference.’’ See 40 CFR 403.5.
POTWs that are required to implement
approved programs, and those that have
experienced interference or pass
through, are required to develop local
limits to implement the general
pretreatment standards. There are
approximately 1,500 POTWs with
approved pretreatment programs and
13,500 small POTWs that are not
required to develop and implement
pretreatment programs.
In addition, EPA establishes
technology-based national regulations,
termed ‘‘categorical pretreatment
standards,’’ for categories of industry
discharging to Publicly Owned
Treatment Works (POTWs) pollutants
that may pass through, interfere with or
are otherwise incompatible with POTW
operations. CWA section 307(b).
Generally, categorical pretreatment
standards are designed such that
wastewaters from direct and indirect
industrial dischargers are subject to
similar levels of treatment.
EPA has promulgated such
pretreatment standards for 35 industrial
categories. In this review, EPA
evaluated various indirect discharging
industries without categorical
pretreatment standards to determine
whether their discharges were causing
pass through or interference, in order to
determine whether categorical
pretreatment standards may be
necessary for these industrial categories.
Stakeholder comments and pollutant
discharge information have helped EPA
to identify industrial sectors for this
review. In particular, EPA has looked
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more closely at sectors that are
comprised entirely or nearly entirely of
indirect dischargers, and is grouping
them into the following seven industrial
categories: Food Service Establishments;
Industrial Laundries; Photoprocessing;
Printing and Publishing; Independent
and Stand Alone Laboratories;
Industrial Container and Drum
Cleaning; and Health Services Industry.
EPA is including within the Health
Services Industry the following
activities: Independent and Stand Alone
Medical and Dental Laboratories,
Offices and Clinics of Doctors of
Medicine, Offices and Clinics of
Dentists, Nursing and Personal Care
Facilities, Veterinary Care Services, and
Hospitals and Clinics. EPA solicits
comment on that grouping (see OW–
2004–0032–0038). For all seven of these
industrial sectors EPA evaluated (1) the
‘‘Pass Through Potential’’ of toxic
pollutants and non-conventional
pollutants through POTW operations;
and (2) the ‘‘Interference Potential’’ of
industrial indirect discharges with
POTW operations. EPA also received,
reviewed, and summarized suggestions
from commenters on options for
improving various categorical
pretreatment standards (see OW–2004–
0032–0020).
A. EPA’s Evaluation of ‘‘Pass Through
Potential’’ of Toxic and NonConventional Pollutants Through POTW
Operations
For these seven industrial sectors,
EPA evaluated the ‘‘pass through
potential’’ of toxic pollutants and nonconventional pollutants through POTW
operations. Historically, for most
effluent guidelines rulemakings, EPA
determines the ‘‘pass through potential’’
by comparing the percentage of the
pollutant removed by well-operated
POTWs achieving secondary treatment
with the percentage of the pollutant
removed by wastewater treatment
options that EPA is evaluating as the
bases for categorical pretreatment
standards (January 28, 1981; 46 FR
9408). For these seven industry sectors,
however, EPA was unable to gather the
data needed for a comprehensive
analysis of the availability and
performance (e.g., percentage of the
pollutants removed) of treatment or
process technologies that might reduce
toxic pollutant discharges beyond that
of technologies already in place at these
facilities. Instead, EPA evaluated the
‘‘pass through potential’’ as measured
by the total annual TWPE discharged by
the industrial sector and the average
TWPE discharge among facilities that
discharge to POTWs.
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EPA based this two part evaluation in
part on EPA’s prior decision not to
promulgate national categorical
pretreatment standards for an industrial
category (i.e., Industrial Laundries). See
August 18, 1999 (64 FR 45071). EPA
noted in this 1999 final action that,
‘‘While EPA has broad discretion to
promulgate such [national categorical
pretreatment] standards, EPA retains
discretion not to do so where the total
pounds removed do not warrant
national regulation and there is not a
significant concern with pass through
and interference at the POTW.’’ See
August 18, 1999 (64 FR 45077). EPA
solicits comment on this two part
evaluation for determining the ‘‘pass
through potential’’ for industrial
categories comprised entirely or nearly
entirely of indirect dischargers.
EPA’s 2005 review of these seven
industrial sectors used pollutant
discharge information from TRI, PCS,
and other publicly available data to
estimate the total annual TWPE
discharged per facility. EPA’s use of
PCS data was limited as nearly all of the
PCS discharge monitoring data is from
direct dischargers. Consequently, EPA
transferred pollutant discharges from
direct dischargers to indirect
dischargers in some of the seven
industrial sectors when other data were
not available. Based on these estimated
toxic pollutant discharges, EPA’s review
suggests that there is a low pass through
potential for four of the seven industrial
sectors and that categorical pretreatment
standards for these four industrial
sectors are not warranted at this time.
These four industrial sectors are: Food
Service Establishments; Industrial
Laundries; Photoprocessing; and
Printing and Publishing. EPA is
currently evaluating the pass through
potential for the Industrial Container
and Drum Cleaning industry using data
from its recent study of this industrial
sector, ‘‘Preliminary Data Summary:
Industrial Container and Drum Cleaning
Industry,’’ EPA–821–R–02–011, June
2002. EPA also did not have enough
information to determine whether there
was pass through potential for the
remaining two industrial sectors:
Independent and Stand Alone
Laboratories and Health Services
Industries. EPA will continue to
evaluate the pass through potential for
these three industrial sectors and
conducted detailed studies if warranted
for the 2007/2008 planning cycle. A
summary of EPA’s analyses supporting
this review are located in the docket
(see OW–2004–0032–0017). EPA solicits
comment on whether these or other
industrial activities discharge pollutants
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that might pass through POTWs and
into surface waters.
B. EPA’s Evaluation of ‘‘Interference
Potential’’ of Industrial Indirect
Discharges
For each of these seven industrial
sectors EPA evaluated the ‘‘interference
potential’’ of indirect industrial
discharges. The term ‘‘interference’’
means a discharge which, alone or in
conjunction with a discharge or
discharges from other sources, both (1)
inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its
treatment processes or operations, or its
sludge processes, use or disposal; and
(2) therefore is a cause of a violation of
any requirement of the POTW’s NPDES
permit (including an increase in the
magnitude or duration of a violation) or
of the prevention of sewage sludge use
or disposal in compliance with
applicable regulations or permits. See
40 CFR 403.3(i). To determine the
‘‘interference potential,’’ EPA generally
evaluates the industrial indirect
discharges in terms of: (1) The
compatibility of industrial wastewaters
and domestic wastewaters (e.g., type of
pollutants discharged in industrial
wastewaters compared to pollutants
typically found in domestic
wastewaters); (2) concentrations of
pollutants discharged in industrial
wastewaters that might cause
interference with the POTW collection
system (e.g., oil and grease discharges
causing blockages in the POTW
collection system), the POTW treatment
system (e.g., high ammonia mass
discharges inhibiting the POTW
treatment system) or biosolids disposal
options; and (3) the potential for
variable pollutant loadings to cause
interference with POTW operations
(e.g., batch discharges or slug loadings
from industrial facilities interfering with
normal POTW operations).
EPA relied on readily available
information from the literature and
stakeholders to evaluate the severity,
duration, and frequency of interference
incidents caused by industrial indirect
discharges. As part of its evaluation,
EPA reviewed data from its recent
report to Congress on one type of
interference incidents, blockages in the
POTW collection system leading to
combine sewer overflows (CSOs) and
sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). See
Impacts and Controls of CSOs and
SSOs, EPA 833–R–04–001, August 2004.
With respect to Food Service
Establishments, EPA noted that ‘‘grease
from restaurants, homes, and industrial
sources is the most common cause
(47%) of reported blockages. Grease is
problematic because it solidifies,
reduces conveyance capacity, and
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blocks flow.’’ Other major sources of
blockages are grit, rock, and other debris
(27%), roots (22%), and roots and grease
(4%).
EPA’s review of current information
indicates that there is no interference
potential from the seven industrial
sectors that would warrant the
development of categorical pretreatment
standards. Information collected from
control authorities and stakeholders
indicate that a growing number of
control authorities are using their
existing authority (under general
pretreatment standards in Part 403) to
set more stringent permit limits or to
enforce existing permit limits and local
ordinances to reduce interferences with
POTW operations (e.g., blockages from
fats, oils, and greases).
EPA did receive comments from
stakeholders during its review that even
with current authority provided in the
general pretreatment regulations, some
POTWs have difficulty controlling
interference from some categories of
indirect industrial dischargers (see OW–
2004–0032–0020). EPA notes, however,
that to a large extent, interference
problems tend to be a local, rather than
a national, problem. Pollutants which
interfere with the operation of one
POTW may not adversely affect the
operation of another. These differences
are attributable to several factors
including the varying sensitivities of
different POTWs and the constituent
composition of wastewater collected
and treated by the POTW (January 28,
1981; 46 FR 9406).
EPA notes that local pretreatment
programs already have the necessary
tools to control interference problems
with existing authority provided by the
general pretreatment standards (40 CFR
Part 403). Under the provisions of
§ 403.5(c)(1) & (2), in defined
circumstances, a POTW must establish
specific local limits to prevent
interference. ‘‘[A] POTW must develop
specific limits for Industrial Users to
guard against interference with the
operation of the municipal treatment
works.’’ 46 FR 9406 (January 28, 1981).
Consequently, pretreatment programs
should correct interference incidents
with enforcement and oversight
activities. The interference incidents
identified by commenters do not
necessarily indicate the need for
additional categorical pretreatment
standards, but they may indicate the
need for additional oversight and
enforcement. EPA solicits comment on
whether there are industrial sectors
discharging pollutants that cause
interference issues that cannot be
adequately controlled through the
general pretreatment standards.
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VIII. The Preliminary 2006 Effluent
Guidelines Program Plan Under Section
304(m)
In accordance with CWA section
304(m)(2), EPA is publishing this
preliminary Plan for public comment
prior to publication of the final Plan.
EPA expects to finalize this Plan by
August 2006. EPA will carefully
consider all public comments and
information. Commenters should see the
DATES and ADDRESSES sections of this
notice for instructions on how to submit
comments to EPA on this preliminary
Plan. EPA will respond to all these
public comments and include these
responses in the docket supporting the
final Plan.
interest is served by periodically
presenting to the public a description of
each annual review (including the
review process employed) and the
results of the review. Doing so at the
same time EPA publishes preliminary
and final plans makes both processes
more transparent. Third, by requiring
EPA to review all existing effluent
guidelines each year, Congress appears
to have intended that each successive
review would build upon the results of
earlier reviews. Therefore, by describing
the 2005 annual review along with the
preliminary 2006 Plan, EPA hopes to
gather and receive data and information
that will inform its review for 2006 and
final 2006 Plan.
A. EPA’s Schedule for Annual Review
and Revision of Existing Effluent
Guidelines Under Section 304(b)
2. Schedule for Possible Revision of
Effluent Guidelines Promulgated Under
Section 304(b)
EPA is currently conducting
rulemakings to potentially revise
existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards for the following
categories: Vinyl Chloride and ChlorAlkali Manufacturing, Iron and Steel
Manufacturing, and Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations. For a
summary of the status of the current
effluent guidelines rulemakings and a
list of completed effluent guidelines
rulemakings conducted by EPA since
1992, see the Docket accompanying this
notice (see OW–2004–0032–0042). EPA
solicits comment on these proposed
schedules.
As previously identified in Table
V–1, EPA does not have sufficient
information to identify any additional
effluent guidelines for potential revision
at this time. Because there are 56 point
source categories (including over 450
subcategories) with existing effluent
guidelines that must be reviewed
annually, EPA believes it is important to
prioritize its review so as to focus
especially on industries where changes
to the existing effluent guidelines are
most likely to be needed. Consequently,
EPA has identified thirteen industrial
categories whose pollutant discharges
warrant further study at this time. (i.e.,
highest estimates of toxic-weighted
pollutant discharges).
In particular, as a result of its 2005
annual review, EPA identified two of
these thirteen industrial point source
categories with existing effluent
guidelines for detailed study in its 2006
annual review: Pulp, Paper, and
Paperboard (Part 430) and Steam
Electric Power Generation (Part 423).
During detailed study of these
categories, EPA will verify the pollutant
discharges identified in the 2005 annual
reviews and perform an in-depth
analysis of pollutant discharges,
1. Schedule for 2005 and 2006 Annual
Reviews Under Section 304(b)
As noted in section IV.B, CWA
section 304(m)(1)(A) requires EPA to
publish a Plan every two years that
establishes a schedule for the annual
review and revision, in accordance with
section 304(b), of the effluent guidelines
that EPA has promulgated under that
section. Today’s preliminary Plan
announces EPA’s schedule for
performing its section 304(b) reviews.
The schedule is as follows: To
coordinate its annual review of existing
effluent guidelines under section 304(b)
with its publication of the preliminary
and final Plans under CWA section
304(m). In other words, in oddnumbered years, EPA intends to
complete its annual review upon
publication of the preliminary Plan that
EPA must publish for public review and
comment under CWA section 304(m)(2).
In even-numbered years, EPA intends to
complete its annual review upon the
publication of the final Plan. EPA’s 2005
annual review is the review cycle
ending upon the publication of this
preliminary 2006 Plan and the 2006
annual review is the review cycle
ending upon publication of the final
2006 Plan.
EPA is coordinating its annual
reviews under section 304(b) with
publication of Plans under section
304(m) for several reasons. First, the
annual review is inextricably linked to
the planning effort, because the results
of each annual review can inform the
content of the preliminary and final
Plans, e.g., by calling to EPA’s attention
point source categories for which EPA
has not promulgated effluent guidelines.
Second, even though not required to do
so under either section 304(b) or section
304(m), EPA believes that the public
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technology innovation and process
changes in these industrial categories, as
well as an analysis of technology cost
and affordability. EPA will also consider
whether new subcategories or revisions
to the applicability of these effluent
guidelines are needed for either of these
categories. The purpose of the detailed
studies is to determine whether, in the
final 2006 Plan, EPA should identify
one or both of these industrial categories
for possible revision of their existing
effluent guidelines. Based on the
information available to EPA at this
time, EPA is not proposing such an
identification. However, EPA will
determine whether it is appropriate to
identify these categories for revision
based on public comments and the
results of its 2006 annual review, which
it intends to conclude prior to
publishing the final 2006 Plan. EPA
requests comment and supporting data
on whether it should identify either or
both of these industrial categories for
possible effluent guidelines rulemakings
in the final 2006 Plan.
EPA emphasizes that identification of
one or both sets of effluent guidelines
for possible revision in the final 2006
Plan would not constitute a final
decision to revise the guideline or
guidelines. EPA would make any such
effluent guidelines revisions—
supported by an administrative record
following an opportunity for public
comment—only in connection with a
formal rulemaking process pursuant to a
schedule announced in the final 2006
Plan.
B. Identification of Point Source
Categories Under CWA Section
304(m)(1)(B)
The final Plan must also identify
categories of sources discharging nontrivial amounts of toxic or nonconventional pollutants for which EPA
has not published effluent limitations
guidelines under section 304(b)(2) or
new source performance standards
(NSPS) under section 306. See CWA
section 304(m)(1)(B). The final Plan
must also establish a schedule for the
promulgation of effluent guidelines for
the categories identified under section
304(m)(1)(B) not later than three years
after such identification. See CWA
section 304(m)(1)(C). Applying the
criteria in section VIII.B.1, EPA is not at
this time proposing to identify any
potential new categories for effluent
guidelines rulemaking. Consequently,
EPA is not proposing in this preliminary
Plan to schedule an effluent guidelines
rulemaking for any potential new
industrial category. EPA is, however,
reviewing the pollutant discharges from
facilities in one industrial sector,
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Tobacco Products (SIC 21), to determine
whether to identify this sector as a
potential new category in the final 2006
Plan. See section VIII.B.2. EPA is also
currently conducting rulemakings to
establish effluent guidelines for two
potential new categories identified in
the final 2004 Plan: Airport Deicing
Operations and Drinking Water Supply
and Treatment.
1. Process for Identifying Industrial
Categories for Which EPA Has Not
Promulgated Effluent Guidelines
EPA primarily used data from TRI and
PCS to identify industrial categories not
currently subject to effluent guidelines.
As discussed in the docket, facilities
with data in TRI and PCS are identified
by a four-digit SIC code. EPA performs
a crosswalk between the TRI and PCS
data, identified with a the four digit SIC
code, and the 56 point source categories
with effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards to determine if a four-digit
SIC code is correctly regulated, or if it
belongs as a potential new subcategory
of a currently regulated category (see
OW–2004–0032–0017). EPA then
assessed whether these industrial
sectors not currently regulated by
effluent guidelines meet the criteria
specified in section 304(m)(1)(B), as
discussed below.
First, this analysis applies only to
industrial categories for which EPA has
not promulgated effluent guidelines, not
to unregulated subcategories or
pollutants within a currently regulated
industrial category. The distinction
between a category (reflecting an
industry as a whole) and a subcategory
(reflecting differences among segments
of the industry) has long been
recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.
See, e.g., Chemical Mfrs. Ass’n v. NRDC,
470 U.S. 116, 130, 132 n.24 (1985).
Thus, EPA’s first decision criterion asks
whether an industrial operation or
activity in question is properly
characterized—in a broad sense—as an
industry ‘‘category’’ or more narrowly as
a segment of some broader industrial
category (i.e., a subcategory). If EPA
determines that an industrial operation
is properly characterized as a new
subcategory of an existing category,
rather than a new category, then EPA
reviews that new subcategory in the
context of conducting its annual review
of existing effluent guidelines under
sections 301(d) and 304(b).
The second criterion EPA considers
when implementing section
304(m)(1)(B) also derives from the plain
text of that section. By its terms, CWA
section 304(m)(1)(B) applies only to
industrial categories to which effluent
guidelines under section 304(b)(2) or
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section 306 would apply, if
promulgated. Therefore, for purposes of
section 304(m)(1)(B), EPA would not
identify in the biennial Plan any
industrial categories composed
exclusively or almost exclusively of
indirect discharging facilities regulated
under section 307 or categories for
which other CWA controls take
precedence over effluent guidelines,
e.g., POTWs regulated under CWA
section 301(b)(1)(B) or municipal storm
water runoff regulated under CWA
section 402(p)(3)(B).
Third, the analysis under CWA
section 304(m)(1)(B) applies only to
industrial categories of sources that may
be discharging non-trivial amounts of
toxic or non-conventional pollutants to
waters of the United States. EPA did not
consider, under this analysis, industrial
activities where conventional
pollutants, rather than toxic or nonconventional pollutants, are the
pollutants of concern. In addition, even
when toxic and non-conventional
pollutants might be present in an
industrial category’s discharge, the
analysis under 304(m)(1)(B) does not
apply when those discharges occur in
trivial amounts. EPA does not believe
that it is necessary, nor was it
Congressional intent, to develop
national effluent guidelines for
categories of sources that are likely to
pose an insignificant hazard to human
health or the environment due to their
trivial discharges. See Senate Report
Number 50, 99th Congress, 1st Session
(1985); WQA87 Legislative History 31.
This decision criterion leads EPA to
focus on those remaining industrial
categories where, based on currently
available information, new effluent
guidelines have the potential to address
a non-trivial hazard to human health or
the environment associated with toxic
or non-conventional pollutants.
Priority-setting is intrinsic to any
planning exercise, and EPA believes
that Congress intended for EPA to focus
on categories discharging ‘‘non-trivial’’
amounts of toxic or non-conventional
pollutants as a way of setting priorities
to achieve the greatest environmental
results. Because section 304(m)(1)(C)
requires that EPA complete an effluent
guidelines rulemaking within three
years of identifying an industrial
category in a 304(m) plan, it is
important that EPA have the discretion
to prioritize its identification of new
industrial categories so that it can use
available resources effectively, and
identify in each successive Plan those
industrial categories where an effluent
guideline is an appropriate tool to
address non-trivial discharges of toxic
or non-conventional pollutants. This
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interpretation is supported by the fact
that section 304(m) imposes an on-going
planning requirement, with new final
Plans due every two years and draft
Plans published for public comment in
between. The CWA specifically
contemplated that effluent guidelines
would not be the only solution to all
water quality problems.
EPA interprets section 304(m),
including its requirement that EPA
identify in a plan any industrial
categories for which it might promulgate
effluent guidelines, as a mechanism
designed to promote regular and
transparent priority-setting on the part
of the Agency. A plan, ultimately, is a
statement of choices and priorities. See
Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance, et al., 124 S. Ct. 2373, 2383
(2004). Identifying an industrial activity
for possible effluent guideline
rulemaking reflects EPA’s view, at the
time the plan is issued, that a national
categorical regulation may be an
appropriate tool to accomplish the
desired environmental results.
Similarly, announcing a schedule
reflects EPA’s assignment of priorities,
taking into account all of the other
statutory mandates and policy
initiatives designed to implement the
CWA’s goals and the funds appropriated
by Congress to execute them. By
requiring EPA to publish its plan,
Congress assured that EPA’s prioritysetting processes would be available for
public viewing. By requiring EPA to
solicit comments on preliminary plans,
Congress assured that interested
members of the public could contribute
ideas and express policy preferences.
Finally, by requiring publication of
plans every two years, Congress assured
that EPA would regularly re-evaluate its
past policy choices and priorities
(including whether to identify an
industrial activity for effluent guidelines
rulemaking) to account for changed
circumstances. Ultimately, however,
Congress left the content of the plan to
EPA’s discretion—befitting the role that
effluent guidelines play in the overall
structure of the CWA and their
relationship to other tools for addressing
water pollution. Considering the full
scope of the mandates and authorities
established by the CWA, of which
effluent guidelines are only a part, EPA
needs the discretion to promulgate new
effluent guidelines in a phased, orderly
manner. Otherwise, EPA might find
itself commencing an effluent
guidelines rulemaking when none is
actually needed for the protection of
human health or the environment. By
crafting section 304(m) as a planning
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mechanism, Congress has given EPA
that discretion.
2. Discharges From Tobacco Products
Facilities
Public comments on the preliminary
2004 Plan suggested that EPA consider
developing effluent guidelines for the
tobacco products industrial sector due
to the potential of facilities in this
industrial sector to discharge nontrivial
amounts of nonconventional and toxic
pollutants. In particular, commenters
expressed concern over the quantity of
toxics and carcinogens that may be
discharged in wastewater associated
with the manufacture of cigarettes. At
the time of publication of the final 2004
Plan, EPA was unable to make a
determination, based on readily
available information, as to whether
toxic and nonconventional discharges
associated with tobacco products
facilities are trivial or nontrivial. In
order to better respond to these
comments and determine whether to
identify the tobacco products industrial
sector as a potential new point source
category, EPA is conducting a detailed
study of the pollutant discharges for this
industrial sector.
This industrial sector is divided into
the following four industry groups: (1)
SIC code 2111 (Cigarettes)—
establishments primarily engaged in
manufacturing cigarettes from tobacco
or other materials; (2) SIC code 2121
(Cigars)—establishments primarily
engaged in manufacturing cigars; (3) SIC
code 2131 (Chewing and Smoking
Tobacco and Snuff)—establishments
primarily engaged in manufacturing
chewing and smoking tobacco and
snuff; and (4) SIC code 2141 (Tobacco
Stemming and Redrying)—
establishments primarily engaged in the
stemming and redrying of tobacco or in
manufacturing reconstituted tobacco.
Based on information in the 2002
Economic Census, EPA estimates there
are 114 tobacco products facilities in the
United States, nine of which are direct
dischargers and currently have NPDES
permits. EPA’s review of TRI and PCS
data indicates that there is very little
information about the facilities in this
sector. Consequently, EPA is conducting
a detailed review of this industrial
sector. EPA plans to complete this
detailed review prior to publication of
the final 2006 Plan in order to
determine whether to identify this
industry sector as a potential new
industrial point source category. Key
issues EPA will address in its detailed
study include the source and magnitude
of the toxic and non-conventional
pollutants discharged directly to waters
of the U.S. and whether indirect
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discharges of these pollutants present
any pass through or interference issues
for POTW operations.
EPA has already made considerable
progress in investigating pollutant
discharges in this category and has
solicited and received assistance from
the companies who represent 90% of
the U.S. market. EPA held several
meetings with these tobacco products
companies since publication of the 2004
Plan and the meeting minutes are
included in the docket (see OW–2004–
0032–0043 and 0044). These companies
have provided extensive information on
processes, pollutant discharges and
existing permits. Based on information
collected to date, EPA believes that
primary processing at cigarette
manufacturers and their related
reconstituted tobacco operations is the
main source of discharged wastewater
pollution in this industrial sector. EPA
conducted site visits at six tobacco
product facilities, four cigarette
manufacturing facilities and two
dedicated reconstituted tobacco
facilities. In addition to collecting
information on processes and
wastewater generation, EPA also
collected grab samples of wastewater
during these site visits. EPA collected
these wastewater samples to: (1) Further
characterize wastewater generated and/
or discharged at these facilities; and (2)
evaluate treatment effectiveness, as
applicable. EPA expects to place nonCBI information and data regarding
these site visits and sampling episodes
in the public record (EPA Docket No.
OW–2004–0032) by December 2005. As
these data will be available after the
close of the public comment period (see
DATES section), EPA will accept public
comment on these data for 30 days after
these data become available in the
docket. Members of the public who
would like notice of when this data is
available should contact EPA (see FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section).
EPA also plans to work with State
NPDES permit writers and pretreatment
control authorities to obtain existing
permits and to identify any issues or
concerns with wastewaters from this
industrial sector.
C. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory
Planning and Review
Under Executive Order 12866, [58
Federal Register 51735 (October 4,
1993)] the Agency must determine
whether a ‘‘regulatory action’’ is
‘‘significant’’ and therefore subject to
OMB review and the requirements of
the Executive Order. The Order defines
the term ‘‘regulatory action’’ to include
any substantive action by an agency
(normally published in the Federal
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Register) that is expected to lead to the
promulgation of a final rule or
regulation. While EPA does not
normally publish plans and prioritysetting documents such as this
preliminary 2006 Plan in the Federal
Register, EPA is required by statute to
do so here. The Order also defines
‘‘significant regulatory action’’ as one
that is likely to result in a rule that may:
(1) Have an annual effect on the
economy of $100 million or more or
adversely affect in a material way the
economy, a sector of the economy,
productivity, competition, jobs, the
environment, public health or safety, or
State, local, or tribal governments or
communities;
(2) Create a serious inconsistency or
otherwise interfere with an action taken
or planned by another agency;
(3) Materially alter the budgetary
impact of entitlements, grants, user fees,
or loan programs or the rights and
obligations of recipients thereof; or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues
arising out of legal mandates, the
President’s priorities, or the principles
set forth in the Executive Order.
Pursuant to the terms of Executive
Order 12866, it has been determined
that this is not a ‘‘significant regulatory
action’’ within the meaning of the
Executive Order. Consequently, EPA did
not submitted this notice to OMB for its
review under Executive Order 12866.
IX. Request for Comment and
Information
EPA invites and encourages public
participation in the development of the
effluent guidelines annual reviews and
the biennial Plans. The Agency asks that
comments address deficiencies in the
docket of this preliminary Plan and that
commenters provide supporting data for
suggested revisions or corrections where
possible.
A. Detailed Studies
EPA requests information on the
industries for which it is conducting
detailed studies: Pulp, Paper, and
Paperboard (Part 430); Steam Electric
Power Generation (Part 423); and
Tobacco Products (SIC 21). As discussed
above, the Agency has identified two of
these categories through its annual
hazard screening review process (Pulp,
Paper, and Paperboard and Steam
Electric Power Generation) and the third
through public comment (Tobacco
Products). EPA hopes to gather the
following information.
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard (Part 430)
In order to evaluate the
implementation of the Cluster Rules,
EPA reviewed pipe and outfall
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descriptions contained in PCS for
bleached papergrade kraft and
papergrade sulfite mills (Phase I mills).
EPA identified these pipes and outfalls
as bleach plant effluent, final effluent,
or other type of monitoring location.
EPA requests that operators of these
Phase I mills verify EPA’s identification
of their PCS monitoring locations. See
OW–2004–0032–0046, Appendix A.
EPA reviewed the information
provided by AF&PA and its member
companies regarding the measurement
techniques used to calculate TRIreported toxic discharges at 19
individual Phase I mills. EPA requests
additional details of methods used to
estimate releases of toxic pollutant
discharges reported to TRI, in particular
those methods used by Phase II mills
(mills without bleached papergrade
kraft or papergrade sulfite operations).
Some permits require in-process
monitoring (bleach plant effluent
monitoring) but the permitting authority
(state) does not include in-process
monitoring results in PCS. EPA requests
that operators of bleached papergrade
kraft or papergrade sulfite mills provide
results of their permit-required (or
other) bleach plant effluent monitoring,
where these monitoring results are
missing from PCS.
EPA requests information about nonbleaching sources of toxic wastewater
pollutants, such as pollutants derived
from combustion-related activities,
spent pulping liquor from unbleached
kraft mills, and papermachine additives
and coatings.
EPA requests examples (case studies)
of mill process changes implemented in
response to the cluster rules, including
the wastewater pollution reduction
benefits of installing BAT and using
BMPs for the control of spent pulping
liquor losses.
Steam Electric Power Generation (Part
423)
EPA is investigating various types of
wastewater discharges by steam electric
utility and non-utility facilities
including: Cooling water, ash-handling
wastes, coal pile drainage, water
treatment wastes, boiler blowdown, wet
air pollution control device wastes,
maintenance cleaning wastes, and
miscellaneous waste streams. EPA
solicits information on these and any
other wastewaters that may be
discharged by steam electric utility and
non-utility facilities. In particular, EPA
solicits information on the pollution
prevention, management, and treatment
for these wastewaters (e.g., how many
facilities discharge coal pile runoff to
ash ponds for further treatment) and the
typical wastewater volumes and
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pollutant concentrations for wastewater
discharges (e.g., what are typical
wastewater volumes and pollutant
concentrations of arsenic, beryllium,
lead, mercury, and selenium in ashhandling wastewaters).
EPA solicits information on any new
technologies or process changes for flow
or pollutant reduction that might
appropriately serve as the basis for
revised effluent guidelines. In
particular, EPA solicits comment on
whether facilities are implementing
pollution prevention, best management
practices, or other operational changes
(e.g., flow reduction technology) to
reduce wastewater pollutant discharges.
For each practice or technology EPA
solicits information on which of these
are more readily adopted by new
facilities rather than existing facilities.
EPA also solicits comment as to whether
any other regulatory programs or
voluntary programs have had or may
have any effect on the mass of
pollutants discharged by existing steam
electric facilities to surface waters and
POTWs.
EPA notes that process additives in
use in the steam electric power
generation category have changed over
time. Starting in the early 1990s, some
power plants began converting from the
use of chlorinated compounds to
brominated compounds. However,
many of these plants report only total
residual oxidant (TRO) as part of their
NPDES permit requirements. EPA
solicits information on the amount and
type of brominated compounds
discharged from this industry.
EPA also solicits comment regarding
electric power generation facilities that
use prime movers other than steam
turbines (e.g., gas turbines). Specifically,
EPA solicits comments on: (1) The
wastewater volumes and pollutant
concentrations of these discharges; (2)
the similarities and differences of the
discharge characteristics as compared to
steam electric facilities regulated by Part
423; (3) current pollution prevention
and treatment options for these
discharges and estimates of which
pollution prevention and treatment
options are most widely used in this
industry sector; and (4) whether EPA
should amend the applicability of the
existing steam electric power generation
effluent guidelines to regulate these
discharges.
Similarly, EPA is also soliciting
information related to these four
questions in order to better evaluate the
discharges from: (1) The non-utility
electric power generation sector and
non-conventional renewable and other
fuel sources sector (e.g., facilities using
wood, wood wastes, non-wood wastes,
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refuse, geothermal and solar as the
energy sources to fuel steam turbines);
and (2) facilities using combined-cycle,
combustion turbine, and integrated
gasification combined-cycle technology.
Tobacco Products (SIC 21)
EPA solicits information and data on
the number and identity of tobacco
products processing facilities that
discharge to surface waters and POTWs.
EPA solicits information and data on the
volume and characteristics of tobacco
products processing discharges to
surface waters and POTWs. EPA solicits
information and data on the fate and
affects of nicotine discharges to waters
of the U.S. EPA solicits information and
data on the treatment effectiveness of
POTWs in removing nicotine from
tobacco products processing
wastewaters.
Based on information collected to
date, EPA believes non-cigarette related
tobacco products processing (such as
the manufacture of cigars, smokeless
tobacco products, and tobacco stemming
and redrying) generate and discharge
little or no wastewater (in terms of
volumes and toxic and/or nonconventional pollutant mass) to waters
of the U.S. EPA solicits data to support
or refute this assertion.
B. EPA Requests Information on the
Industries Recommended for a
Preliminary Category Review
EPA requests information on the
industries for which there are
incomplete data available for analysis
(i.e., industrial point source categories
with existing effluent guidelines
identified with ‘‘(5)’’ in the column
entitled ‘‘Findings’’ in Table V–1). EPA
will need to collect more information
for the next biennial plan. Specifically,
EPA hopes to gather the following
information:
• What toxic pollutants are
discharged from these industries in nontrivial amounts on an industry and perfacility basis?
• What raw material(s) or process(es)
are the sources of these pollutants?
• What technologies or management
practices are available (technically and
economically) to control or prevent the
generation and/or release of these
pollutants.
C. Data Sources and Methodologies
EPA solicits comments on whether
EPA used the correct evaluation factors,
criteria, and data sources in conducting
its annual review and developing this
preliminary Plan. EPA also solicits
comment on other data sources EPA can
use in its annual reviews and biennial
planning process. Please see the docket
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15:17 Aug 26, 2005
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for a more detailed discussion of EPA’s
analysis supporting the reviews in this
notice (see OW–2004–0032–0017).
D. BPJ Permit-Based Support
EPA solicits comments on whether,
and if so how, the Agency should
provide EPA Regions and States with
permit-based support instead of revising
effluent guidelines (e.g., when the vast
majority of the hazard is associated with
one or a few facilities).
E. Identification of New Industrial
Categories
EPA solicits comment on the
methodology for grouping industrial
sectors currently not subject to effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards for
review and prioritization, and the
factors and measures EPA should
consider for determining whether to
identify such industries for a
rulemaking. EPA solicits comment on
other data sources and approaches EPA
can use to identify industrial sectors
currently not subject to effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards for
review and prioritization.
F. Implementation Issues Related to
Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards
As a factor in its decision-making,
EPA considers opportunities to
eliminate inefficiencies or impediments
to pollution prevention or technological
innovation, or opportunities to promote
innovative approaches such as water
quality trading, including within-plant
trading. Consequently, EPA solicits
comment on implementation issues
related to existing effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards. EPA also
solicits comment on these proposed
schedules for current effluent guidelines
rulemakings (see OW–2004–0032–
0042).
G. EPA Solicits Comment on
Implementation Issues Related to the
Use of Flow Normalized Mass-Based
Permit Limits and Their Potential
Impact on the Adoption of Water
Conservation Technologies
EPA solicits comment on the
suggested revisions to the OCPSF
effluent guidelines raised by
commenters. See section V.B.3.a. In
particular, EPA requests comment on
the likely advantages and disadvantages
of the commenters’ suggestion (i.e.,
allowing NPDES permittees to keep
flow-normalized mass-based permit
limits established at the beginning of the
prior permit term before possible water
re-use and reduction technologies and
pollution prevention practices may have
been implemented). EPA requests data
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51059
to evaluate the costs, benefits, and
impacts of water conservation practices
advocated by commenters. EPA also
solicits comment on whether the
commenters’ suggestion could have a
broader application to other industrial
categories with flow-normalized massbased NPDES permit limits.
In particular, EPA requests paired
influent and effluent regulated pollutant
concentration and flow data where
available, before and after
implementation of the increased water
conservation technologies and practices,
to determine wastewater treatment
performance (i.e., percent pollutant
removals) and the discharged effluent
pollutant concentrations for OCPSF
(and other) facilities that they believe
may or may not have adversely
impacted their ability to achieve
existing effluent guidelines. EPA also
solicits other data on these water re-use
and reduction technologies and
pollution prevention practices which
may include:
• The main reasons why these
technologies and practices were
adopted, and whether these
technologies and practices are
transferrable to other facilities.
• Detailed process flow diagrams
including wastewater flows from each
industrial unit operation; typical
pollutant concentration wastewater data
from each industrial unit operation;
descriptions of the water conservation
technologies and practices employed at
each of these industrial unit operations;
and data and descriptions on whether
these water conservation technologies
and practices reduce the amount of
wastewater volume or the mass of
wastewater pollutants resulting from an
industrial unit operation or both.
• Detailed descriptions of the
wastewater treatment and the annual
costs of operating wastewater treatment
to maintain compliance with the
effluent guidelines. Detailed
descriptions of the capital and annual
costs associated with implementing
water conservation technologies and
practices and any cost savings resulting
from water conservation technologies
and practices.
Additionally, EPA solicits estimates
of the amount of increased water
conservation and the number of
facilities that would adopt more
advanced water conservation
technologies and practices as a sole
result of: (1) Implementing the
commenters’ suggestion; or (2) other
factors (e.g., limitations on water source
availability, potential costs savings).
EPA would be particularly interested in
specific, detailed examples of situations
where the adoption of water
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conservation technologies and practices
have or have not made the achievement
of new flow-normalized mass-based
permit limits based on the reduced
wastewater flow more difficult for both
direct and indirect dischargers. EPA
solicits comment on how and when
NPDES permit writers are calculating
flow-normalized mass-based permit
limits when facilities reduce their
wastewater flow. EPA solicits comment
on whether the commenters’ suggestion
is more or less relevant to certain
industries, treatment technologies, or
pollutants. If EPA were to address the
commenters’ suggestion, should any
rule or guidance changes be limited to
one or a few industries (e.g., OCPSF) or
more broadly applicable. EPA solicits
comment on whether there are
differences between direct and indirect
dischargers that might suggest that
different approaches are warranted.
Comments and data provided to EPA
will be evaluated in the context of the
CWA factors required for consideration
of effluent guidelines. Were EPA to
make any effluent guidelines revisions,
they would need to be supported by an
administrative record following an
opportunity for public comment based
on available data.
H. EPA Solicits Comment on
Implementation Issues Related to the
Analytical Methods for Synthetic-Based
Drilling Fluids (SBF) in the Oil and Gas
Extraction Point Source Category (40
CFR Part 435)
EPA solicits comment on the
suggested revisions to the Oil and Gas
Extraction effluent guidelines (40 CFR
Part 435) raised by commenters. See
section V.B.3.b. In particular, EPA
solicits comment on whether EPA
should propose a rulemaking to replace
the synthetic-based drilling fluids (SBF)
analytic methods in the Oil and Gas
Extraction effluent guidelines with the
SBF analytical methods from the EPA
Region 6 general permit for the ‘‘Outer
Continental Shelf of the Gulf of
Mexico,’’ NPDES Permit No:
GMG290000 (see OW–2004–0032–
0047). EPA also solicits comment on the
number, geographic distribution, and
types of wells (e.g., oil or gas extraction,
exploration or development, deepwater
or shallow water, likely bottom depth of
well) with down-hole temperatures
above the practical limitations of esterbased drilling fluids (i.e., above 350 °F).
EPA also solicits comment on whether
drilling fluid additives (e.g., emulsifiers)
can address the effects of high
temperatures on ester-based drilling
fluids. Finally, EPA solicits comments
on whether the issues raised by
commenters are more appropriately
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15:17 Aug 26, 2005
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addressed through improved
standardization of the SBF analytical
methods in order to reduce variability
rather than the commenter’s suggested
revisions to the effluent guidelines.
I. EPA Solicits Comment on the Draft
Strategy
In connection with the final 2006
Plan, EPA intends to finalize the draft
Strategy for National Clean Water
Industrial Regulations (‘‘draft Strategy’’).
See 67 FR 71165 (November 29, 2002).
EPA again solicits public comment on
the draft Strategy. This will allow time
for EPA to better refine the Strategy as
it performs future effluent guidelines
reviews. In particular, EPA requests
comments on its proposed use of the
four factors described in the draft
Strategy (see section V.A.2) and invites
the public to identify other or different
factors for EPA’s consideration.
The Agency is also interested to
receive comments on whether each of
these four factors should be ranked, and
if so, whether different weights should
be applied to each. EPA also requests
suggestions as to the information the
Agency should use to prioritize
industrial categories that pass both the
primary and secondary screening
reviews described in the draft Strategy.
J. EPA’s Evaluation of Categories of
Indirect Dischargers Without
Categorical Pretreatment Standards To
Identify Potential New Categories for
Pretreatment Standards
EPA solicits comments on its
evaluation of categories of indirect
dischargers without categorical
pretreatment standards. Specifically,
EPA solicits wastewater characterization
data (e.g., wastewater volumes,
concentrations of discharged
pollutants), current examples of
pollution prevention, treatment
technologies, and local limits for all
industries EPA evaluated: Food Service
Establishments; Industrial Laundries;
Photoprocessing; Printing and
Publishing; Independent and Stand
Alone Laboratories; Industrial Container
and Drum Cleaning; and Health Services
Industry. EPA solicits comment on the
grouping of six industrial sectors into
the Health Services Industry grouping
(see OW–2004–0032–0038). EPA also
solicits comment on whether there are
industrial sectors discharging pollutants
that cause interference issues that
cannot be adequately controlled through
the general pretreatment standards.
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Dated: August 19, 2005.
Michael Shapiro,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 05–17032 Filed 8–26–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL–7961–8]
Proposed CERCLA Administrative
Agreement; Circuitron Corporation
Superfund Site, East Farmingdale,
Suffolk County, NY
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice; request for public
comment.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Agency’s May 24, 1995, ‘‘Guidance on
Agreements with Prospective
Purchasers of Contaminated Property,’’
notice is hereby given of a proposed
prospective purchaser agreement
(‘‘PPA’’) with the United States
Environmental Protection Agency;
Suffolk County, New York; the State of
New York; and an as-of-yet unnamed
‘‘Auction Purchaser’’ regarding a 0.9acre parcel of real property (the
‘‘Property’’) included within the
Circuitron Corporation Superfund Site,
located at 82 Milbar Boulevard in East
Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York
(the ‘‘Site’’). Under the PPA, Suffolk
County would market the Property at
auction, with a portion of the proceeds
to be paid to EPA in reimbursement of
response costs it incurred at the Site.
Also under the PPA, the United States
and the State would covenant not to sue
or take administrative action against
Suffolk County and its departments and
agencies, and the Auction Purchaser,
under Sections 106 or 107(a) of the
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act of 1980, as amended (‘‘CERCLA’’).
EPA also agrees to release the CERCLA
Section 107(l) lien against the Property,
and waive any lien or right to perfect
any lien it may have on the Property
now and in the future under Section
107(r) of CERCLA. By publication of this
Notice, a thirty (30) day period has been
established in which the Agency will
accept written comments relating to the
PPA agreement. The Agency will
consider all comments received and
may modify or withdraw its consent to
the PPA if comments received disclose
facts or considerations which indicate
that the agreement is inappropriate,
improper, or inadequate. The Agency’s
response to any comments received will
be available for public inspection at the
E:\FR\FM\29AUN1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 166 (Monday, August 29, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51042-51060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17032]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OW-2004-0032; FRL-7959-8]
RIN 2040-AE76
Notice of Availability of Preliminary 2006 Effluent Guidelines
Program Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of preliminary 2006 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan;
request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), EPA establishes national
technology-based regulations known as effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards to reduce pollutant discharges from categories
of industry discharging directly to waters of the United States or
discharging indirectly through Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs).
The CWA sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and 307(b) require EPA to
annually review these effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards.
Today's notice first presents EPA's 2005 review of its existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards. It also presents EPA's
evaluation of categories of indirect dischargers without pretreatment
standards to identify potential new categories for pretreatment
standards. CWA section 304(m) requires EPA to biennially publish an
effluent guidelines program plan and provide for public notice and
comment on such plan. Therefore, this notice also presents the
preliminary 2006 effluent guidelines program plan. Included in the
preliminary 2006 plan is a solicitation for comments and data on
industry categories that may be discharging non-trivial amounts of
toxic or non-conventional pollutants and are not currently subject to
any effluent guidelines. Finally, this notice provides a second
opportunity for public notice and comment on the draft Strategy for
National Clean Water Industrial Regulations (``draft Strategy''), see
67 FR 71165 (November 29, 2002).
DATES: If you wish to comment on any portion of this notice, EPA must
receive your comments by October 28, 2005. EPA will conduct a public
meeting on 20 September 2005, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time. For information on the location of the public meeting, see
ADDRESSES section.
ADDRESSES: Identify your comments, data and information relating to the
Agency's draft Strategy; by Docket ID No. OW-2002-0020. Identify all
other comments, data and information relating to this notice by Docket
ID No. OW-2004-0032. Submit your comments, data and information by one
of the following methods:
A. Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
B. Agency Website: https://www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, EPA's
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method
for receiving comments, data, and information. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
C. E-mail: OW-Docket@epa.gov.
D. Mail: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode:
4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention
Docket ID No. OW-2004-0032. For comments, data, and information on the
draft Strategy, use Docket ID No. OW-2002-0020.
E. Hand Delivery: Water Docket, EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room
B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, Attention Docket ID
No. OW-2004-0032. Use Docket ID No. OW-2002-0020 for comments, data,
and information on the draft Strategy. Such deliveries are only
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments, data, and information to Docket
ID No. OW-2004-0032. For comments, data, and information on the draft
Strategy, use Docket ID No. OW-2002-0020. EPA's policy is that all
comments, data, and information received will be included in the public
docket without change and may be made available online at https://
www.epa.gov/edocket, including any personal information provided,
unless the material includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit through EDOCKET, regulations.gov,
or e-mail information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected. The EPA EDOCKET and the federal regulations.gov websites are
``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public
docket visit EDOCKET on-line or see the Federal Register of May 31,
2002 (67 FR 38102). For additional instructions on obtaining access to
comments, go to section I.B of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of
this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index
at https://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy
[[Page 51043]]
form. Publicly available docket materials are available either
electronically in EDOCKET or in hard copy at the Water Docket, EPA/DC,
EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The
Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding Federal holidays. The telephone number for the Public
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Water
Docket is (202) 566-2426.
Public Meeting: EPA will hold an informational public meeting for
interested stakeholders in the EPA East Building, Room 1153 (also known
as the ``Great Room'' or the ``Map Room''), 1201 Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC. For more information on the details and location
of the public meeting, see section I.C.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Carey A. Johnston at (202) 566-
1014 or johnston.carey@epa.gov, or Ms. Jan Matuszko at (202) 566-1035
or matuszko.jan@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
How Is This Document Organized?
The outline of today's notice follows:
I. General Information
II. Legal Authority
III. What is the Purpose of Today's Federal Register Notice?
IV. Background
V. EPA's 2005 Annual Review of Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA Sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g),
and 307(b)
VI. EPA's 2006 Annual Review of Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA Sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g),
and 307(b)
VII. EPA's Evaluation of Categories of Indirect Dischargers Without
Categorical Pretreatment Standards to Identify Potential New
Categories for Pretreatment Standards
VIII. The Preliminary 2006 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan Under
Section 304(m)
IX. Request for Comment and Information
I. General Information
A. Regulated Entities
Today's notice does not contain regulatory requirements. Rather,
today's notice describes: (1) The Agency's 2005 annual review of
existing effluent limitations guidelines and pretreatment standards
under the Clean Water Act (CWA) sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b); (2) EPA's review of indirect dischargers without categorical
pretreatment standards to identify potential new categories for
pretreatment standards under CWA sections 304(g) and 307(b); and (3)
the preliminary 2006 effluent guidelines program plan under CWA section
304(m) (``Plan''). EPA anticipates completing the final 2006 Plan by
August 2006. As required by CWA section 304(m), the final Plan will:
(1) Present a schedule for EPA's annual review of existing effluent
guidelines under CWA section 304(b) and a schedule for any effluent
guidelines revisions; and (2) identify industries for which EPA has not
promulgated effluent guidelines but may decide to do so through
rulemaking and a schedule for these rulemakings.
B. How Can I Get Copies of Related Information?
1. Docket
EPA has established an official public docket for the Agency's 2005
and 2006 annual reviews of existing effluent limitations guidelines and
pretreatment standards under CWA sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b), and the 2006 Plan under CWA section 304(m) under Docket ID No.
OW-2004-0032. EPA has established an official public docket for the
Agency's draft Strategy under Docket ID No. OW-2002-0020. The official
public docket consists of the documents specifically referenced in this
action, any public comments received, and other information related to
this action. Although a part of the official docket, Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute is not included in the materials available to the
public. The official public docket is the collection of materials that
is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket
Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202)
566-1744, and the telephone number for the Water Docket is (202) 566-
2426.
2. Electronic Access
You may access this Federal Register document electronically
through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register'' listings at
https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. An electronic version of the public
docket is available through EPA's electronic public docket and comment
system, EPA Dockets. You may use EPA Dockets at https://www.epa.gov/
edocket/ to view public comments, access the index listing of the
contents of the official public docket, and to access those documents
in the public docket that are available electronically. Although not
all docket materials may be available electronically, you may still
access any of the publicly available docket materials through the
docket facility identified in section I.B.1. Once in the system, select
``search,'' then key in the appropriate docket identification number.
C. What Are the Public Meeting Details for the Preliminary Plan?
A public meeting to review the preliminary 2006 Plan will be held
in Washington, DC (see the DATES and ADDRESSES sections for the date
and location of the public meeting). The meeting is open to the public,
and limited seating for the public is available on a first-come, first-
served basis. For security reasons, we request that you bring photo
identification with you to the meeting. Also, it will expedite the
process of entering the building if you contact Ms. Cassandra Holmes at
least three business days prior to the meeting with your name, phone
number, and any affiliation. Ms. Holmes can be reached via e-mail at
holmes.cassandra@epa.gov. Please use ``304(m) Public Meeting Attendee''
in the e-mail subject line. Ms. Holmes can also be reached by telephone
at (202) 566-1000.
EPA will not distribute meeting materials in advance of the public
meeting; all materials will be distributed at the meeting. The purpose
of the public meeting is to: (1) Present the Agency's 2005 annual
review of existing effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards under
CWA sections 301(d), 304(b), 307(b), and 304(g); (2) present the
Agency's evaluation of categories of indirect dischargers without
categorical pretreatment standards to identify potential new categories
for pretreatment standards under CWA section 307(b); (3) present the
preliminary 2006 Plan under CWA section 304(m); (4) review the industry
sectors identified for further investigation; and (5) identify
information collection activities and analyses EPA anticipates
completing for the Agency's 2006 review of effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards and the final Plan. EPA will not provide a
transcript of the meeting but will record the meeting minutes for the
docket supporting this action. Individuals wishing to comment on the
Agency's review and the preliminary Plan would need to submit written
comments as described in section I.C. in order for EPA to consider
their comments in the next annual review and final Plan.
[[Page 51044]]
If you need special accommodations at this meeting, including
wheelchair access or special audio-visual support needs, you should
contact Ms. Holmes at least seven days prior to the meeting so that we
can make appropriate arrangements. For those unable to attend the
meeting, a copy of the presentation and meeting materials will be
posted on the EPA Dockets website at: https://www.epa.gov/edocket/ and
EPA's Effluent Guidelines Planning web site at: https://www.epa.gov/
guide/plan.html.
Please note that parking is very limited in downtown Washington,
and we recommend you use public transit. The EPA Headquarters complex
is located near the Federal Triangle Metro station. Upon exiting the
Metro station, walk east to 12th Street. On 12th Street, walk south to
Constitution Avenue. At the corner, turn right onto Constitution Avenue
and proceed to the entrance at the EPA East Building, 1201 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
II. Legal Authority
Today's notice is published under the authority of the CWA, 33
U.S.C. 1251, et seq., and in particular sections 301(d), 304(b),
304(g), 304(m), 306, and 307(b), 33 U.S.C. 1311(d), 1314(b), 1314(g),
1314(m), 1316, and 1317.
III. What Is the Purpose of Today's Federal Register Notice?
Today's notice presents EPA's 2005 review of its existing effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards. It also presents EPA's
evaluation of indirect dischargers without categorical pretreatment
standards to identify potential new categories for pretreatment
standards. CWA section 304(m) requires EPA to biennially publish an
effluent guidelines program plan and provide for public notice and
comment on such plan. Therefore, this notice also presents the
preliminary 2006 effluent guidelines program plan. Included in the
preliminary 2006 plan is a solicitation for comments and data on
industry categories that may be discharging non-trivial amounts of
toxic or non-conventional pollutants and are not currently subject to
effluent guidelines. Finally, this notice provides a second opportunity
for public notice and comment on the draft Strategy for National Clean
Water Industrial Regulations (``draft Strategy''), see 67 FR 71165
(November 29, 2002).
IV. Background
A. What Are Effluent Guidelines and Pretreatment Standards?
The CWA directs EPA to promulgate effluent limitations guidelines
and standards that reflect pollutant reductions that can be achieved by
categories or subcategories of industrial point sources using specific
technologies. See CWA sections 301(b)(2), 304(b), 306, 307(b), and
307(c). For point sources that introduce pollutants directly into the
waters of the United States (direct dischargers), the effluent
limitations guidelines and standards promulgated by EPA are implemented
through National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permits. See CWA sections 301(a), 301(b), and 402. For sources that
discharge to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) (indirect
dischargers), EPA promulgates pretreatment standards that apply
directly to those sources and are enforced by POTWs and State and
Federal authorities. See CWA sections 307(b) and (c).
1. Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available (BPT)--CWA
Sections 301(b)(1)(A) & 304(b)(1)
EPA defines Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available
(BPT) effluent limitations for conventional, toxic, and non-
conventional pollutants. Section 304(a)(4) designates the following as
conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5),
total suspended solids, fecal coliform, pH, and any additional
pollutants defined by the Administrator as conventional. The
Administrator designated oil and grease as an additional conventional
pollutant on July 30, 1979. See 44 FR 44501 (July 30, 1979). EPA has
identified 65 pollutants and classes of pollutants as toxic pollutants,
of which 126 specific substances have been designated priority toxic
pollutants. See Appendix A to part 423. All other pollutants are
considered to be non-conventional.
In specifying BPT, EPA looks at a number of factors. EPA first
considers the total cost of applying the control technology in relation
to the effluent reduction benefits. The Agency also considers the age
of the equipment and facilities, the processes employed, and any
required process changes, engineering aspects of the control
technologies, non-water quality environmental impacts (including energy
requirements), and such other factors as the EPA Administrator deems
appropriate. See CWA section 304(b)(1)(B). Traditionally, EPA
establishes BPT effluent limitations based on the average of the best
performances of facilities within the industry of various ages, sizes,
processes, or other common characteristics. Where existing performance
is uniformly inadequate, BPT may reflect higher levels of control than
currently in place in an industrial category if the Agency determines
that the technology can be practically applied.
2. Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology (BCT)--CWA Sections
301(b)(2)(E) & 304(b)(4)
The 1977 amendments to the CWA required EPA to identify effluent
reduction levels for conventional pollutants associated with Best
Conventional Pollutant Control Technology (BCT) for discharges from
existing industrial point sources. In addition to considering the other
factors specified in section 304(b)(4)(B) to establish BCT limitations,
EPA also considers a two part ``cost-reasonableness'' test. EPA
explained its methodology for the development of BCT limitations in
1986. See 51 FR 24974 (July 9, 1986).
3. Best Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT)--CWA
Sections 301(b)(2)(A) & 304(b)(2)
For toxic pollutants and non-conventional pollutants, EPA
promulgates effluent guidelines based on the Best Available Technology
Economically Achievable (BAT). See CWA section 301(b)(2)(A), (C), (D) &
(F). The factors considered in assessing BAT include the cost of
achieving BAT effluent reductions, the age of equipment and facilities
involved, the process employed, potential process changes, non-water
quality environmental impacts, including energy requirements, and other
such factors as the EPA Administrator deems appropriate. See CWA
section 304(b)(2)(B). The technology must also be economically
achievable. See CWA section 301(b)(2)(A). The Agency retains
considerable discretion in assigning the weight accorded to these
factors. BAT limitations may be based on effluent reductions attainable
through changes in a facility's processes and operations. Where
existing performance is uniformly inadequate, BAT may reflect a higher
level of performance than is currently being achieved within a
particular subcategory based on technology transferred from a different
subcategory or category. BAT may be based upon process changes or
internal controls, even when these technologies are not common industry
practice.
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4. New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)--CWA Section 306
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) reflect effluent reductions
that are achievable based on the best available demonstrated control
technology. New sources have the opportunity to install the best and
most efficient production processes and wastewater treatment
technologies. As a result, NSPS should represent the most stringent
controls attainable through the application of the best available
demonstrated control technology for all pollutants (i.e., conventional,
non-conventional, and priority pollutants). In establishing NSPS, EPA
is directed to take into consideration the cost of achieving the
effluent reduction and any non-water quality environmental impacts and
energy requirements.
5. Pretreatment Standards for Existing Sources (PSES)--CWA Section
307(b)
Pretreatment Standards for Existing Sources (PSES) are designed to
prevent the discharge of pollutants that pass through, interfere with,
or are otherwise incompatible with the operation of publicly-owned
treatment works (POTWs), including sludge disposal methods at POTWs.
Pretreatment standards for existing sources are technology-based and
are analogous to BAT effluent limitations guidelines.
The General Pretreatment Regulations, which set forth the framework
for the implementation of national pretreatment standards, are found at
40 CFR part 403.
6. Pretreatment Standards for New Sources (PSNS)--CWA Section 307(c)
Like PSES, Pretreatment Standards for New Sources (PSNS) are
designed to prevent the discharges of pollutants that pass through,
interfere with, or are otherwise incompatible with the operation of
POTWs. PSNS are to be issued at the same time as NSPS. New indirect
dischargers have the opportunity to incorporate into their facilities
the best available demonstrated technologies. The Agency considers the
same factors in promulgating PSNS as it considers in promulgating NSPS.
B. What Are EPA's Review and Planning Obligations Under Sections
301(d), 304(b), 304(g), 304(m), and 307(b)?
1. EPA's Review and Planning Obligations Under Sections 301(d), 304(b),
and 304(m)--Direct Dischargers
Section 304(b) requires EPA to review its existing effluent
guidelines for direct dischargers each year and to revise such
regulations ``if appropriate.'' Section 304(m) supplements the core
requirement of section 304(b) by requiring EPA to publish a plan every
two years announcing its schedule for performing this annual review and
its schedule for rulemaking for any effluent guideline selected for
possible revision as a result of that annual review. Section 304(m)
also requires the plan to identify categories of sources discharging
non-trivial amounts of toxic or non-conventional pollutants for which
EPA has not published effluent limitations guidelines under section
304(b)(2) or NSPS under section 306. See CWA section 304(m)(1)(B); S.
Rep. No. 50, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985); WQA87 Leg. Hist. 31.
Finally, under section 304(m), the plan must present a schedule for
promulgating effluent guidelines for industrial categories for which it
has not already established such guidelines, with final action on such
rulemaking required not later than three years after the industrial
category is identified in a final Plan. See CWA section 304(m)(1)(C).
EPA is required to publish its preliminary Plan for public comment
prior to taking final action on the plan. See CWA section 304(m)(2).
In addition, CWA section 301(d) requires EPA to review every five
years the effluent limitations required by CWA section 301(b)(2) and to
revise them if appropriate pursuant to the procedures specified in that
section. Section 301(b)(2), in turn, requires point sources to achieve
effluent limitations reflecting the application of the best available
technology economically achievable (for toxic pollutants and non-
conventional pollutants) and the best conventional pollutant control
technology (for conventional pollutants), as determined by EPA under
sections 304(b)(2) and 304(b)(4), respectively. For nearly three
decades, EPA has implemented sections 301 and 304 through the
promulgation of effluent limitations guidelines, resulting in
regulations for 56 industrial categories. See E.I. du Pont de Nemours &
Co. v. Train, 430 U.S. 113 (1977). Consequently, as part of its annual
review of effluent limitations guidelines under section 304(b), EPA is
also reviewing the effluent limitations they contain, thereby
fulfilling its obligations under section 301(d) and 304(b)
simultaneously.
2. EPA's Review and Planning Obligations Under Sections 304(g) and
307(b)--Indirect Dischargers
Section 307(b) requires EPA to revise its pretreatment standards
for indirect dischargers ``from time to time, as control technology,
processes, operating methods, or other alternatives change.'' See CWA
section 307(b)(2). Section 304(g) requires EPA to annually review these
pretreatment standards and revise them ``if appropriate.''Although
section 307(b) only requires EPA to review existing pretreatment
standards ``from time to time,'' section 304(g) requires an annual
review. Therefore, EPA meets its 304(g) and 307(b) review requirements
by reviewing all industrial categories subject to existing categorical
pretreatment standards on an annual basis to identify potential
candidates for revision.
Section 307(b)(1) also requires EPA to promulgate pretreatment
standards for pollutants not susceptible to treatment by POTWs or that
would interfere with the operation of POTWs, although it does not
provide a timing requirement for the promulgation of such new
pretreatment standards. EPA, in its discretion, periodically evaluates
indirect dischargers not subject to categorical pretreatment standards
to identify potential candidates for new pretreatment standards. The
CWA does not require EPA to publish its review of pretreatment
standards or identification of potential new categories, although EPA
is exercising its discretion to do so in this notice.
EPA intends to repeat this publication schedule for future
pretreatment standards reviews (e.g., EPA will publish the 2006 annual
pretreatment standards review in the notice containing the Agency's
2006 annual review of existing effluent guidelines and the final 2006
Plan). EPA intends that these coincident reviews will provide
meaningful insight into EPA's effluent guidelines and pretreatment
standards program decision-making. Additionally, EPA hopes to most
efficiently serve the public with these coincident reviews whereby this
single notice and future notices serve as the ``one-stop shop'' source
of information for the Agency's current and future effluent guidelines
and pretreatment standards program reviews.
V. EPA's 2005 Annual Review of Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA Sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b)
A. What Process Did EPA Use to Review Existing Effluent Guidelines and
Pretreatment Standards Under CWA Section 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and
307(b)?
1. Background
In its 2005 annual review, EPA reviewed all industrial categories
subject to existing effluent limitations guidelines and pretreatment
standards,
[[Page 51046]]
representing a total of 56 point source categories and over 450
subcategories. EPA thereby met its obligations to annually review both
existing effluent limitations guidelines for direct dischargers under
CWA sections 301(d) and 304(b) and existing pretreatment standards for
indirect dischargers under CWA sections 304(g) and 307(b).
EPA's annual review of existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards represents a considerable effort by the Agency
to consider the hazards to human health or the environment from
industrial point source category discharges. The 2005 annual reviews,
which themselves build on reviews from previous years, also reflect a
lengthy outreach effort to involve stakeholders in the review process.
In performing its 2005 annual review, EPA considered all information
and data submitted to EPA as part of its outreach activities. EPA
reviewed all industrial sectors and will conduct more focused detailed
reviews for a select number of industrial sectors. EPA will complete
these detailed reviews prior to publication of the final 2006 Plan.
As discussed in more detail below, EPA uses pollutant loadings
information and technological, economic, and other information in
evaluating whether it would be appropriate to revise its promulgated
effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards. EPA also examines the
processes and operations of each category subject to promulgated
effluent guidelines to decide whether it might be appropriate to
address (through additional subcategories) other industrial activities
that are similar in terms of type of operations performed, pollutants
and wastewaters generated, and available pollution prevention and
treatment options. Because issues associated with such additional
subcategories very often are interwoven with the structure and
requirements of the existing regulation, EPA believes that
incorporating its review of these potential subcategories into its
annual review of the larger categories with which they likely belong is
the most efficient way to fulfill its statutory obligations under
sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and 307(b). This is especially
important in view of the large number of existing categories and
potential additional subcategories that EPA must review annually.
One example where EPA established effluent guidelines for an
additional subcategory under an existing category is the agricultural
refilling establishments subcategory (Subpart E) that EPA added to the
Pesticide Chemicals point source category (40 CFR part 455). See 61 FR
57518 (November 6, 1996). The BPT limitations in Part 455 did not cover
refilling establishments and their industrial operations (e.g.,
refilling of minibulks) because these industrial operations did not
begin until well after the limitations were first promulgated. EPA
considered refilling establishments to be a subcategory of the
Pesticide Chemicals point source category because of similar types of
industrial operations performed, wastewaters generated, and available
pollution prevention and treatment options.
EPA's annual reviews also focus on identifying pollutants that are
not regulated by an existing effluent guideline or pretreatment
standard for a point source category but that comprise a significant
portion of the estimated toxic discharges (as measured by toxic-
weighted pound equivalents (TWPE)) for that category. EPA believes that
it is reasonable to consider new pollutants for regulation in the
course of reviewing and revising existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards. EPA has several reasons for this. First, a
newly identified pollutant might be adequately addressed through
existing regulations or through the additional control of already
regulated pollutants in an existing set of effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards. In some cases, revising existing limitations
for one set of pollutants will address hazards associated with a newly
identified pollutant, thus obviating the need for EPA to promulgate
specific limitations for that pollutant. Second, EPA believes it is
necessary to understand the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of
existing effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards in controlling
newly identified pollutants before EPA can identify potential
technology-based control options for these pollutants. For example, EPA
revised effluent limitations for the bleached papergrade kraft and soda
and papergrade sulfite subcategories within the Pulp, Paper, and
Paperboard point source category (40 CFR part 430) to add BAT
limitations for dioxin, which was not measurable when EPA first
promulgated these effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards. See
63 FR 18504 (April 15, 1998).
In general, treatment technologies address multiple pollutants and
it is important to consider their effects holistically in order to
develop limitations that are both environmentally protective and
economically achievable. In short, EPA believes that the
appropriateness of creating an additional subcategory or addressing a
newly identified pollutant is best considered in the context of
revising an existing set of effluent guidelines. Accordingly, EPA
performed these analyses as part of its annual review of existing
effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards.
2. What factors does EPA consider in its annual review of effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards under sections 301(d), 304(b),
304(g), and 307(b)?
Section 304(b) and 304(g) direct EPA to revise existing effluent
guidelines ``if appropriate.'' In the draft Strategy for National Clean
Water Industrial Regulations (``draft Strategy''), see 67 FR 71165
(November 29, 2002), EPA identified four major factors that the Agency
would aim to examine, in the course of its annual review, to determine
whether it would be appropriate to revise an existing set of effluent
guidelines or pretreatment standards for direct and indirect
dischargers.
The first factor EPA considers is the amount and toxicity of the
pollutants in an industrial category's discharge and the extent to
which these pollutants pose a hazard to human health or the
environment. This enables the Agency to set priorities for rulemaking
in order to achieve the greatest environmental and health benefits.
EPA's assessment of hazard also enables the Agency to indirectly assess
the effectiveness of the pollution control technologies and processes
currently in use by an industrial category, based on the amount and
toxicity of its dischargers. This also helps the Agency assess the
extent to which additional regulation may contribute reasonable further
progress toward the national goal of eliminating the discharge of all
pollutants, as specified in section 301(b)(2)(A). The second factor
identifies and evaluates the cost and performance of an applicable and
demonstrated technology, process change, or pollution prevention
alternative that can effectively reduce the pollutants remaining in the
industrial category's wastewater and, consequently, substantially
reduce the hazard to human health or the environment associated with
these pollutant discharges. Cost is a factor specifically identified in
section 304(b) for consideration in establishing BPT, BAT, and BCT. The
third factor evaluates the affordability or economic achievability of
the technology, process change, or pollution prevention measures
identified using the second factor. If the financial condition of the
industry indicates that it would experience significant difficulties in
implementing the new technology, process change, or pollution
prevention
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measures, EPA might conclude that Agency resources would be more
effectively spent developing more efficient, less costly approaches to
reducing pollutant loadings that would better satisfy applicable
statutory requirements.
The fourth factor addresses implementation and efficiency
considerations and recommendations from stakeholders. Here, EPA
considers opportunities to eliminate inefficiencies or impediments to
pollution prevention or technological innovation, or opportunities to
promote innovative approaches such as water quality trading, including
within-plant trading. For example, in the 1990s, industry requested in
comments on the Offshore and Coastal Oil and Gas Extraction (40 CFR
part 435) effluent guidelines rulemakings that EPA revise these
effluent guidelines because they inhibited the use of a new pollution
prevention technology (synthetic-based drilling fluids). EPA agreed
that revisions to these effluent guidelines were appropriate for
promoting synthetic-based drilling fluids as a pollution prevention
technology and promulgated revisions to the Oil and Gas Extraction
point source category. See 66 FR 6850 (Jan. 22, 2001). This factor
might also prompt EPA, during an annual review, to decide against
identifying an existing set of effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards for revision where the pollutant source is already
efficiently and effectively controlled by other regulatory or non-
regulatory programs.
EPA intends to finalize the draft Strategy in connection with the
final 2006 Plan. EPA first solicited public comments in the November
29, 2002, Federal Register notice (67 FR 71165) announcing the
availability of the draft Strategy. EPA received 22 public comments on
the draft Strategy and these are included in Docket ID No. OW-2002-
0020. EPA again solicits public comment on the draft Strategy.
Commenters should follow the instructions for submitting comments on
the draft Strategy listed in DATES and ADDRESSES sections in this
notice. In particular, commenters should send their comments, data, and
information on the draft Strategy to the Agency using Docket ID No. OW-
2002-0020.
3. How did EPA's 2004 annual review influence its 2005 annual review of
point source categories with existing effluent guidelines and
pretreatment standards?
In view of the annual nature of its reviews of existing effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards, EPA believes that each annual
review can and should influence succeeding annual reviews, e.g., by
indicating data gaps, identifying new pollutants or pollution reduction
technologies, or otherwise highlighting industrial categories for more
detailed scrutiny in subsequent years. During its 2004 annual review,
which concluded in September 2004, EPA completed detailed studies for
two industrial categories: Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic
Fibers (OCPSF) (Part 414); and Petroleum Refining (Part 419). In
addition, EPA identified nine other priority industrial categories as
candidates for detailed study in future reviews based on the toxic
discharges reported to TRI and PCS. EPA summarized its findings in the
``Technical Support Document for the 2004 Effluent Guidelines Program
Plan,'' EPA-821-R-04-014, August 2004. EPA's 2004 annual review,
including stakeholder comments received as of that date, is discussed
in the comment response document in the record supporting that action.
See Docket OW-2003-0074, Document No. OW-2003-0074-1345.
EPA used the findings, data and comments from the 2004 annual
review to inform its 2005 annual review. For example, in its 2005
review, EPA gathered more data for industrial categories identified for
future study in the 2004 annual review, and began a detailed study of
two of these categories (i.e., Steam Electric Power Generation and
Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Manufacturing). Although the OCPSF and
Petroleum Refining categories again ranked high in terms of TWPE
discharged, EPA did not conduct a new detailed study of these
categories, as EPA's 2004 detailed study of these categories had
revealed that effluent guidelines revisions were not warranted at that
time. In 2005, EPA confirmed that its findings in the 2004 annual
review, which used TRI and PCS data from year 2000, were still
applicable based on the 2002 TRI and PCS data used in the 2005 annual
review.
During the 2003 and 2004 reviews, EPA developed methodologies for
screening level analysis of discharge data in TRI and PCS as well as
for detailed review of prioritized categories. The 2005 review built on
the previous reviews by continuing to use the screening level
methodology, incorporating some refinements to assigning discharges to
categories and updating toxic weighting factors used to estimate
potential hazards of toxic pollutant discharges.
4. What actions did EPA take in performing its 2005 annual reviews of
existing effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards?
a. Screening-Level Review
The first component of EPA's 2005 annual review consisted of a
screening-level review of all industrial categories subject to existing
effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards. As a starting point for
this review, EPA examined screening-level data from its 2004 annual
reviews. In its 2004 annual reviews, EPA focused its efforts on
collecting and analyzing data to identify industrial categories whose
pollutant discharges potentially pose the greatest hazard to human
health or the environment because of their toxicity (i.e., highest
estimates of toxic-weighted pollutant discharges). In particular, EPA
ranked point source categories according to their discharges of toxic
and non-conventional pollutants (reported in units of toxic-weighted
pound equivalent or TWPE), based primarily on data from the Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI) and the Permit Compliance System (PCS). EPA
calculated the TWPE using pollutant-specific toxic weighting factors
(TWFs). Where data are available, these TWFs reflect both aquatic life
and human health effects. For each facility that reports to TRI and
PCS, EPA multiplies the pounds of discharged pollutants by pollutant-
specific TWFs. This calculation results in an estimate of the
discharged toxic-weighted pound equivalents (TWPE) which EPA then uses
to assess the hazard posed by these toxic and non-conventional
pollutant discharges to human health or the environment. EPA repeated
this process for the 2005 annual reviews using the most recent data
(2002). EPA also considered implementation and efficiency issues raised
by EPA Regions and stakeholders. The full description of EPA's
methodology for the 2005 screening-level review is presented in the
Docket accompanying this notice (see OW-2004-0032-0017).
EPA is continuously investigating and solicits comment on how to
improve its analyses. EPA made a few such improvements to the
screening-level review methodology from the 2004 to the 2005 annual
review. EPA updated the TWFs and its estimate of average POTW pollutant
removal efficiencies for a number of pollutants. Prior to publication
of the final 2006 Plan, EPA will start the process for conducting a
peer review of its development and use of TWFs. EPA also included
pollutant loadings from potential new subcategories in their respective
parent
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industrial category totals (e.g., the pollutant loadings from petroleum
bulk stations and terminals (SIC 5171) were included in the pollutant
loadings for the Petroleum Refining point source category (40 CFR part
419)).
EPA also combined the estimated discharges of toxic and non-
conventional pollutants calculated from the TRI and PCS databases to
estimate the total TWPE for each category. In the 2003 and 2004 annual
reviews, EPA separately evaluated the TWPE estimates from the TRI and
PCS databases. EPA finds that combining the TWPE estimates from the TRI
and PCS databases into a single TWPE number offers a clearer
perspective of the industries with the most toxic pollution. Different
pollutants may dominate the TRI and PCS TWPE estimates for an
industrial category due to the differences in pollutant reporting
requirements between the TRI and PCS databases. The single TWPE number
for each category highlights those industries with the most toxic
discharge data in both TRI and PCS. Although this approach could have
theoretically led to double-counting, EPA's review of the data
indicates that because the two databases focus on different pollutants,
double-counting was minimal and did not affect the ranking of the top
ranked industrial categories (see OW-2004-0032-0016 and 0017). EPA
specifically solicits comment on these revisions to its screening-level
review methodology.
EPA also developed and used a quality assurance project plan (QAPP)
to document the type and quality of data needed to make the decisions
in this annual review and to describe the methods for collecting and
assessing those data (see OW-2004-0032-0050). EPA used the following
document to develop the QAPP for this annual review: ``EPA Requirements
for QA Project Plans (QA/R-5), EPA-240-B01-003.'' Using the QAPP as a
guide, EPA performed extensive quality assurance checks on the data
used to develop estimates of toxic-weighted pollutant discharges (i.e.,
verifying data reported to TRI and the PCS) to determine if any of the
pollutant discharge estimates relied on incorrect or suspect data. For
example, EPA contacted facilities and permit writers to confirm and, as
necessary, corrected TRI and PCS data for facilities EPA identified in
its screening-level review as the significant dischargers of toxic and
non-conventional pollution.
Based on this methodology, EPA was able to prioritize its review of
industries that offered the greatest potential for reducing hazard to
human health and the environment. EPA assigned those categories with
the lowest estimates of toxic weighted pollutant discharges a lower
priority for revision (i.e., industrial categories marked ``3'' in the
``Findings'' column in Table V-1).
In order to further focus its inquiry during the 2005 annual
review, EPA did not prioritize for additional review categories for
which effluent guidelines had been recently promulgated or revised, or
for which effluent guidelines rulemaking was currently underway (i.e,
industrial categories marked ``1'' in the ``Findings'' column in Table
V-1). For example, EPA excluded from additional review facilities that
are associated with the Vinyl Chloride and Chlor-Alkali Manufacturing
rulemaking currently underway, subtracting the pollutant discharges
from these facilities in its 2005 hazard assessment of the OCPSF and
Inorganic Chemicals point source categories to which they belong.
Additionally, EPA applied less scrutiny to industrial categories for
which EPA had promulgated effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards
within the past seven years. EPA chose seven years because this is the
time it customarily takes for the effects of effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards to be fully reflected in pollutant loading data
and TRI reports (in large part because effluent limitations guidelines
are often incorporated into NPDES permits only upon re-issuance, which
could be up to five years after the effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards are promulgated). Because there are 56 point source
categories (including over 450 subcategories) with existing effluent
guidelines and pretreatment standards that must be reviewed annually,
EPA believes it is important to prioritize its review so as to focus on
industries where changes to the existing effluent guidelines or
pretreatment standards are most likely to be needed. In general,
industries for which new or revised effluent guidelines or pretreatment
standards have recently been promulgated are less likely to warrant
such changes. However, in cases where EPA becomes aware of the growth
of a new segment within a category for which EPA has recently revised
effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards, or where new concerns
are identified for previously unevaluated pollutants discharged by
facilities within the industrial category, EPA would apply more
scrutiny to the category in a subsequent review. EPA identified no such
instance during the 2005 annual review.
EPA identified thirteen industrial sectors in its 2005 annual
review where the estimated toxic-weighted pollutant discharges appeared
unclear and more data were needed to determine their magnitude (i.e.,
industrial categories marked ``(4)'' or ``(5)'' in the ``Findings''
column in Table V-1). For these industries, EPA intends to collect
additional information for the next annual review.
As part of its 2005 annual review, EPA also considered the number
of facilities responsible for the majority of the estimated toxic-
weighted pollutant discharges associated with an industrial activity.
Where only a few facilities in a category accounted for the vast
majority of toxic-weighted pollutant discharges, EPA did not prioritize
the category for additional review (i.e, categories marked ``(2)'' in
the ``Findings'' column in Table V-1). EPA believes that revision of
individual permits may be more effective at addressing the toxic-
weighted pollutant discharges than a national effluent guidelines
rulemaking because requirements can be better tailored to these few
facilities, and because individual permitting actions may take
considerably less time than a national rulemaking. The Docket
accompanying this notice lists facilities that account for the vast
majority of the estimated toxic-weighted pollutant discharges for
particular categories (see OW-2004-0032-0017). For these facilities,
EPA will consider identifying pollutant control and pollution
prevention technologies that will assist permit writers in developing
facility-specific, technology-based effluent limitations on a best
professional judgment (BPJ) basis. In future annual reviews, EPA also
intends to re-evaluate each category based on the information available
at the time in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the BPJ permit-
based support.
EPA received comments urging the Agency, as part of its annual
review, to encourage and recognize voluntary efforts by industry to
reduce pollutant discharges, especially when the voluntary efforts have
been widely adopted within an industry and the associated pollutant
reductions have been significant. EPA agrees that industrial categories
demonstrating significant progress through voluntary efforts to reduce
hazard to human health or the environment associated with their
effluent discharges would be a comparatively lower priority for
effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards revision, particularly
where such reductions are achieved by a significant majority of
individual facilities in the industry. Although during this annual
review EPA could not complete a systematic review of voluntary
pollutant loading reductions, EPA's review did
[[Page 51049]]
account for the effects of successful voluntary programs through taking
into consideration any significant reductions in pollutant discharges
reflected in discharge monitoring and TRI data, as well as any data
provided directly by commenters, that EPA used to assess the toxic-
weighted pollutant discharges.
EPA directly assessed the availability of technology for some--but
not all--industrial categories (see OW-2004-0032-0016 and 0017). As was
the case in the 2004 annual review, EPA was unable to gather the data
needed to perform a comprehensive screening-level analysis of the
availability of treatment or process technologies to reduce toxic
pollutant wastewater discharges beyond the performance of technologies
already in place for all of the 56 existing industrial categories.
However, EPA believes that its analysis of hazard can also serve as a
proxy for assessing the effectiveness of existing technologies in terms
of the amount and significance of the pollutants discharged.
Similarly, EPA could not identify a suitable screening-level tool
for comprehensively evaluating the affordability of treatment or
process technologies because the universe of facilities is too broad
and complex. EPA could not find a reasonable way to prioritize the
industrial categories based on a broad economic profile. In the past,
EPA has gathered information regarding technologies and economic
considerations through detailed questionnaires distributed to hundreds
of facilities within a category or subcategory for which EPA has
commenced rulemaking. Such information-gathering is subject to the
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 33 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.
The information acquired in this way is valuable to EPA in its
rulemaking efforts, but the process of gathering, validating and
analyzing the data--even for only a few subcategories--can consume
considerable time and resources. EPA does not think it appropriate to
conduct this level of analysis prior to identifying an industrial
category for possible regulation. Consequently, EPA is working to
develop more streamlined screening-level tools for assessing
technological and economic achievability as part of future annual
reviews under section 301(d), 304(b), and 307(b). EPA solicits comment
on how to best identify and use screening-level tools for assessing
technological and economic achievability on an industry-specific basis
as part of future annual reviews.
In summary, EPA focused its 2005 screening-level review on
industrial categories whose pollutant discharges potentially pose the
greatest hazards to human health or the environment because of their
toxicity. EPA also considered efficiency and implementation issues
raised by stakeholders. By using this multi-layered screening approach,
the Agency concentrated its resources on those point source categories
with the highest estimates of toxic-weighted pollutant discharges
(based on best available data), while assigning a lower priority to
categories that the Agency believes are not good candidates for
effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards revision at this time.
b. Detailed Review of Certain Industries
For a number of the industries that appeared to offer the greatest
potential for reducing hazard to human health or the environment, EPA
gathered and analyzed additional data on pollutant discharges, economic
factors, and technology issues during its 2005 annual review. EPA
examined: (1) Wastewater characteristics and pollutant sources; (2) the
pollutants driving the toxic-weighted pollutant discharges; (3)
treatment technology and pollution prevention information; (4) the
geographic distribution of facilities in the industry; (5) any
pollutant discharge trends within the industry; and (6) any relevant
economic factors.
EPA relied on many different sources of data including: (1) 1997
and 2002 U.S. Economic Census; (2) TRI and PCS data; (3) contacts with
reporting facilities to verify reported releases and facility
categorization; (4) contacts with regulatory authorities (states and
EPA regions) to understand how category facilities are permitted; (5)
NPDES permits and their supporting fact sheets; (6) EPA effluent
guidelines technical development documents; (7) relevant EPA
preliminary data summaries or study reports; (8) technical literature
on pollutant sources and control technologies; (9) information provided
by industry including industry conducted survey and sampling data; and
(10) stakeholder comments (see OW-2004-0032-0016, 0017, and 0020).
During its 2005 annual review, EPA started detailed studies for the
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard (Part 430) and Steam Electric Power
Generation (Part 423) point source categories because they represent
the two industrial point source categories with the largest combined
TWPE based on EPA's ranking approach. EPA plans to complete these
detailed studies in its 2006 annual review, prior to publication of the
final 2006 Plan. An expected outcome of these detailed studies will be
the determination of whether it would be appropriate to identify these
industrial categories for possible effluent guidelines revision in the
2006 final Plan. The current status of these two detailed studies is
presented in section V.B.
c. Preliminary Review of Effluent Guidelines for Certain Industrial
Categories
In addition to identifying two categories for detailed studies (see
section V.B.2) during the 2005 screening level review, EPA identified
11 additional categories with potentially high TWPE discharge estimates
(i.e., industrial point source categories with existing effluent
guidelines identified with ``(5)'' in the column entitled ``Findings''
in Table V-1). EPA will continue to collect and analyze hazard and
technology-based information on these eleven industrial categories but
will assign a higher priority to investigating the Pulp, Paper, and
Paperboard and Steam Electric Power Generation industrial categories.
The docket accompanying this notice presents a summary of EPA's
findings on these eleven industrial categories (see OW-2004-0032-0016).
d. Public Comments on the 2004 Annual Review
EPA's annual review process considers information provided by
stakeholders regarding the need for new or revised effluent limitations
guidelines and pretreatment standards. To that end, EPA established a
docket for its 2005 annual review with the publication of the final
2004 Plan to provide the public with an opportunity to provide
additional information to assist the Agency in its annual review. EPA's
Regional Offices and stakeholders identified other industrial point
source categories as potential candidates for revision of effluent
limitations guidelines and pretreatment standards based on potential
opportunities to improve implementation of these regulations or because
of their pollutant discharges (see OW-2004-0032-0020). See section
V.B.3. EPA hopes that public review of the 2005 annual review and the
preliminary Plan in this notice, as well as public review of future
annual reviews and Plans, will elicit additional information and
suggestions for improving the Effluent Guidelines Program.
[[Page 51050]]
B. What Were EPA's Findings From Its Annual Review for 2005?
1. Screening-Level Review
The findings of the 2005 annual review are presented in Table V-1.
This table uses the following codes to describe the Agency's findings
with respect to each existing industrial category.
(1) Effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards for this
industrial category were recently revised or reviewed through an
effluent guidelines rulemaking or a rulemaking is currently underway.
(2) National effluent guidelines or pretreatment standards are not
the best tools for establishing technology-based effluent limitations
for this industrial category because most of the toxic and non-
conventional pollutant discharges are from one or a few facilities in
this industrial category. EPA will consider assisting permitting
authorities in identifying pollutant control and pollution prevention
technologies for the development of technology-based effluent
limitations by best professional judgment (BPJ) on a facility-specific
basis.
(3) Not identified as a hazard priority based on data available at
this time.
(4) Incomplete data available for full analysis. EPA intends to
complete a detailed study of this industry for the final 2006 Plan. See
section V.B.2.
(5) Incomplete data available for full analysis. EPA intends to
complete a preliminary category review of this industry for the final
2006 Plan. See section V.A.4.c.
Table V-1.--Findings From the 2005 Annual Review of Effluent Guidelines and Pretreatment Standards Promulgated
Under Section 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), and 307(b)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry category (listed
No. alphabetically) 40 CFR Part Findings [dagger]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................... Aluminum Forming................ 467 (3)
2............................... Asbestos Manufacturing.......... 427 (3)
3............................... Battery Manufacturing........... 461 (3)
4............................... Canned and Preserved Fruits and 407 (3)
Vegetable Processing.
5............................... Canned and Preserved Seafood 408 (3)
Processing.
6............................... Carbon Black Manufacturing...... 458 (3)
7............................... Cement Manufacturing............ 411 (3)
8............................... Centralized Waste Treatment..... 437 (1)
9............................... Coal Mining..................... 434 (1) and (3)
10.............................. Coil Coating.................... 465 (3)
11.............................. Concentrated Animal Feeding 412 (1)
Operations (CAFO).
12.............................. Concentrated Aquatic Animal 451 (1)
Production.
13.............................. Copper Forming.................. 468 (3)
14.............................. Dairy Products Processing....... 405 (3)
15.............................. Electrical and Electronic 469 (3)
Components.
16.............................. Electroplating.................. 413 (1)
17.............................. Explosives Manufacturing........ 457 (3)
18.............................. Ferroalloy Manufacturing........ 424 (3)
19.............................. Fertilizer Manufacturing........ 418 (5)
20.............................. Glass Manufacturing............. 426 (3)
21.............................. Grain Mills..................... 406 (3)
22.............................. Gum and Wood Chemicals.......... 454 (3)
23.............................. Hospitals....................... 460 (3)
24.............................. Ink Formulating................. 447 (3)
25.............................. Inorganic Chemicals............. 415 (1) and (5)
26.............................. Iron and Steel Manufacturing.... 420 (1)
27.............................. Landfills....................... 445 (1)
28.............................. Leather Tanning and Finishing... 425 (3)
29.............................. Meat and Poultry Products....... 432 (1)
30.............................. Metal Finishing................. 433 (1)
31.............................. Metal Molding and Casting....... 464 (3)
32.............................. Metal Products and Machinery.... 438 (1)
33.............................. Mineral Mining and Processing... 436 (3)
34.............................. Nonferrous Metals Forming and 471 (3)
Metal Powders.
35.............................. Nonferrous Metals Manufacturing. 421 (5)
36.............................. Oil and Gas Extraction.......... 435 (1) and (2)
37.............................. Ore Mining and Dressing......... 440 (5)
38.............................. Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and 414 (1) and (5)
Synthetic Fibers.
39.............................. Paint Formulating............... 446 (3)
40.............................. Paving and Roofing Materials 443 (3)
(Tars and Asphalt).
41.............................. Pesticide Chemicals............. 455 (5)
42.............................. Petroleum Refining.............. 419 (5)
43.............................. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.... 439 (1)
44.............................. Phosphate Manufacturing......... 422 (3)
45.............................. Photographic.................... 459 (3)
46.............................. Plastic Molding and Forming..... 463 (5)
47.............................. Porcelain Enameling............. 466 (5)
48.............................. Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard..... 430 (2) and (4)
49.............................. Rubber Manufacturing............ 428 (5)
50.............................. Soaps and Detergents 417 (3)
Manufacturing.
51.............................. Steam Electric Power Generation. 423 (4)
52.............................. Sugar Processing................ 409 (3)
53......