Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) The Agency may reopen the public comment
period under this Section if doing so could expedite the decisionmaking
process.
1) If the public comment period is
reopened under this subsection (a), any person, including the applicant, who
believes any condition of a draft permit is inappropriate or that the Agency's
tentative decision to deny an application or prepare a draft permit is
inappropriate, must submit all reasonably available factual grounds supporting
their position, including all supporting material, before a date, not less than
60 days after public notice given under subsection (a)(2), set by the Agency.
Thereafter, any person may file a written response to the material filed by any
other person, by a date, not less than 20 days after the date set for filing of
the material (as set forth in the preceding sentence), set by the
Agency.
2) Public notice of any
comment period under this subsection (a) must identify the issues to which the
requirements of this subsection (a) will apply.
3) On its own motion or on the request of any
person, the Agency may direct that the requirements of subsection (a)(1) will
apply during the initial public comment period where the Agency determines that
issuance of the permit will be contested and that applying the requirements of
subsection (a)(1) will substantially expedite the decisionmaking process. The
notice of the draft permit must state whenever this has been done.
4) A comment period of longer than 60 days
may be necessary in complicated proceedings to give commenters a reasonable
opportunity to comply with the requirements of this Section. A commenter may
request a longer comment period, and one must be granted under Subpart D to the
extent that the Agency determines that a longer comment period is
necessary.
b) If any
data, information, or arguments submitted during the public comment period
appear to raise substantial new questions concerning a permit, the Agency may
undertake one or more of the following actions:
1) It may prepare a new draft permit,
appropriately modified, under Section
705.141;
2) It may prepare a revised statement of
basis, a fact sheet, or a revised fact sheet and reopen the comment period
under subsection (b)(3);
3) It may
reopen or extend the comment period to give interested persons an opportunity
to comment on the information or arguments submitted.
c) Comments filed during the reopened comment
period must be limited to the substantial new questions that caused its
reopening. The public notice under Subpart D must define the scope of the
reopening.
d) After an extended
comment period, the Agency may undertake final action under Section
705.201
that it deems appropriate based on the record.
e) Public notice of any of the above actions
must be issued under Subpart D.
BOARD NOTE: Derived from
40 CFR
124.14
(2017).
