Current through all regulations passed and filed through December 16, 2024
[Comment: For dates of non-regulatory government publications,
publications of recognized organizations and associations, federal rules and
federal statutory provisions referenced in this rule, see rule
3745-33-01 of the Administrative
Code.]
(A) Applications for Ohio NPDES
permits shall be filed only on forms approved by Ohio EPA and shall contain
such information as Ohio EPA deems necessary. These forms may be electronic. As
a minimum, these applications shall contain any NPDES application information
required by regulations adopted by the administrator, including 40 C.F.R. 122
to 125, 129 to 133, 136, 400 to 471, 501 and 503 .
(B) Any person proposing to commence the
discharge of pollutants shall submit an application,
including all data required by the application form, at least one hundred
eighty days prior to commencement of the discharge. If a permit renewal
application is submitted at least one hundred eighty days prior to the
expiration date of the existing permit, and the director does not issue a new
permit before the expiration date, the conditions of the expired permit shall
continue in force until the director acts on the permit application.
(C) Application requirements for materials
added to wastewater.
(1) The applicant shall
attach to the application a list of treatment additives
proposed
to be discharged
including, but not limited to, maintenance chemicals and chemicals used to aid
in the treatment of the wastewater.
(2) If these treatment additives proposed have not been approved in
a permit to install issued under Chapter 3745-42 of the Administrative Code
,
director's final findings and orders, or NPDES permit
issuance, the applicant shall also submit an
application to discharge the treatment additives in accordance with paragraph
(G) of this rule..
(D) Any application that
fails to provide Ohio EPA with
requested information needed for ascertaining compliance with the applicable
provisions of this chapter, may be considered incomplete.
Ohio EPA may either request additional information or return the application to
the applicant without further processing. An indication of
why
the application was considered incomplete shall accompany the application
returned.
(1)
Except
as specified in paragraph (D)(1)(b) of this rule, a permit application shall
not be considered complete unless all required quantitative data are collected
in accordance with sufficiently sensitive analytical methods approved under 40
C.F.R. Part 136 or required under 40 C.F.R. chapter I, subchapter N or O.
(a)
For the purposes
of this requirement, a method approved under 40 C.F.R. Part 136 or required
under 40 C.F.R. chapter I, subchapter N or O is "sufficiently sensitive" when
any of the following conditions are met:
(i)
The method
quantification level (QL) is at or below the level of the applicable water
quality criterion for the measured pollutant or pollutant
parameter.
(ii)
The method QL is above the applicable water quality
criterion, but the amount of the pollutant or pollutant parameter in a
facility's discharge is high enough that the method detects and quantifies the
level of the pollutant or pollutant parameter in the discharge.
(iii)
The method has
the lowest QL of the analytical methods approved under 40 C.F.R. Part 136 or
required under 40 C.F.R. chapter I, subchapter N or O for the measured
pollutant or pollutant parameter.
(b)
When there is no
analytical method that has been approved under 40 C.F.R. Part 136, required
under 40 C.F.R. chapter I, subchapter N or O, and a specific analytical method
is not otherwise required by the director, the applicant may use any suitable
method but shall provide a description of the method. When selecting a suitable
method, other factors such as a method's precision, accuracy or resolution may
be considered when assessing the performance of the method.
[Comment: Common deficiencies include
not submitting the application fee, the listed operator on form 1.VIII should
be the responsible party as opposed to the person who does the day-to-day
operations and maintenance, the signatory not meeting the requirements in
paragraph (F) of this rule, form 2C not including analytical data of pollutants
believed present, form 2S not completed for small sanitary applicants using
form 2E and the submitted sample analysis not having a sufficiently sensitive
analytical method to determine compliance with applicable water quality
standards.]
(E) An applicant may request that information
submitted with applications be treated as confidential business information.
(1) A request for confidential treatment
shall be submitted to Ohio EPA simultaneously with an application with
documentation sufficient to support that the information is confidential.
Failure to make such a timely request shall constitute a waiver of the right to
prevent public disclosure. A request at a later time will be entertained by
Ohio EPA, but Ohio EPA will not be liable for any information released prior to
receiving the request.
(2) A
decision as to whether to treat the information as confidential shall be made
by the director within forty-five days of receipt of the request and
accompanying documentation. Until such decision is made, the information or
part thereof, shall be treated as confidential. The applicant requesting
confidentiality shall be notified in writing of the director's
decision.
(3) Any information
determined to be confidential may be disclosed, as
follows:
(a) To officers,
employees or authorized representatives of
the state or a federal agency, without the consent of the affected person, when
necessary to sustain an action brought pursuant to Chapter 6111. of the Revised
Code or during an adjudication hearing or when otherwise necessary to fulfill
any requirement of the act or Chapter 6111. of the Revised Code.
(b) In any judicial proceeding in accordance
with paragraph (E)(3)(d) of this rule.
(c) In any administrative hearing in
accordance with paragraph (E)(3)(d) of this rule.
(d) Information determined to be confidential
may be disclosed in any judicial proceeding or in any administrative hearing
after notification to the affected person and the presiding officer sufficient
to allow submission of comments by the affected person prior to disclosure of
the information. Upon consideration of such comments, the presiding officer may
condition disclosure of the information on the making of such protective
arrangements and commitments found to be necessary and appropriate.
(e) Disclosure of information determined to
be confidential in accordance with paragraph (E)(3) of this rule shall not, of
itself, affect the eligibility of information for confidential treatment under
the other provisions of this rule.
(4) Information required by NPDES application
forms provided by the director under this rule may not be claimed confidential.
This includes information on the forms themselves and any attachments used to
supply information required by the forms. Claims for confidentiality will be
denied for the following information:
(a) The
name and address of any permit applicant or permittee.
(b) Permit applications, permits, and
effluent data.
(F) An application submitted to the director
pursuant to this chapter shall be signed as follows:
(1) In the case of a corporation, by a
responsible corporate officer. For these purposes, a responsible corporate
officer means either of the following:
(a) A president, secretary, treasurer or vice-president of the corporation in charge of
a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar
policy-making or decision-making functions for the
corporation.
(b) The
manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operating facilities,
provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the
operation of the regulated facility including having explicit or implicit duty
of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiating and
directing other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental
compliance with environmental laws and regulations; the manager can ensure that
the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and
accurate information for permit application requirements; and where authority
to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance
with corporate procedures.
(2) In the case of a partnership, by a
general partner.
(3) In the case of
a sole proprietorship, by the proprietor.
(4) In the case of a municipal, state or other public facility, by either the principal
executive officer, the ranking elected official or other duly authorized
employee.
(G)
Requesting approval to use and discharge treatment
additives.
(1)
Permittees, except for POTWs, shall obtain prior approval
for the use of new treatment additives and for the discharge of treatment
additives.
(2)
Requests for approvals under this paragraph shall be
filed only on forms approved by Ohio EPA and contain such information as Ohio
EPA deems necessary. The forms may be submitted electronically.
[Comment: Ohio EPA recommends that
facilities submit requests at least forty-five days prior to when the facility
plans to discharge wastewater containing the requested additive.]
(3)
All of
the following substances are exempt from the requirement to request approval
prior to use:
(a)
Acids and bases used only to alter the pH of the
discharge when the applicable outfall already includes an effluent limit for
pH, including all of the following:
(i)
Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).
(ii)
Magnesium
hydroxide.
(iv)
Aluminum sulfate
(alum).
(c)
Polyaluminum
chloride.
(d)
The following chlorination chemicals when the
applicable outfall already includes an effluent limit for chlorine:
(ii)
Sodium
hypochlorite.
(iii)
Calcium hypochlorite.
(e)
The following
dechlorination chemicals:
(iii)
Sodium meta bisulfite.