La. Admin. Code tit. 33 § IX-4739

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024

Section IX-4739 - As an owner or operator of a Phase II existing facility, what must I collect and submit when I apply for my reissued LPDES permit?

A. Submittal of Information for an Owner or Operator of a Phase II Existing Facility

1. You must submit to the state administrative authority the proposal for information collection required in Paragraph B.1 of this Section prior to the start of information collection activities.

2. You must submit to the state administrative authority the information required in LAC 33:IX.2501.R.2, 3, and 5 and any applicable portions of the comprehensive demonstration study, except for the proposal for information collection required by Paragraph B.1 of this Section.

a. You must submit your LPDES permit application in accordance with the time frames specified in LAC 33:IX.2501.D.2.

b. If your existing permit expires before July 9, 2008, you may request that the state administrative authority establish a schedule for you to submit the information required by this Section as expeditiously as practicable, but not later than January 7, 2008. Between the time your existing permit expires and the time an LPDES permit containing requirements consistent with this Subchapter is issued to your facility, the best technology available to minimize adverse environmental impact will continue to be determined based on the state administrative authority's best professional judgment.

3. In subsequent permit terms, the state administrative authority may approve a request to reduce the information required to be submitted in your permit application on the cooling water intake structure and the source water body, if conditions at your facility and in the water body remain substantially unchanged since your previous application. You must submit your request for reduced cooling water intake structure and water body application information to the state administrative authority at least one year prior to the expiration of the permit. Your request must identify each required information item in LAC 33:IX.2501.R and this Section that you determine has not substantially changed since the previous permit application and the basis for your determination.

B. Comprehensive Demonstration Study. The purpose of the comprehensive demonstration study ("study") is to characterize impingement mortality and entrainment, to describe the operation of your cooling water intake structures, and to confirm that the technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures you have selected and installed, or will install, at your facility meet the applicable requirements of LAC 33:IX.4737. All facilities except those that have met the applicable requirements in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.1.a-b and A.4 must submit all applicable portions of the study to the state administrative authority in accordance with Paragraph A.1 of this Section. Facilities that meet the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.1.a by reducing their flow commensurate with a closed-cycle, recirculating system are not required to submit a study. Facilities that meet the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.1.b by reducing their design intake velocity to 0.5 ft/sec or less are required to submit a study only for the entrainment requirements, if applicable. Facilities that meet the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.4 and have installed and properly operate and maintain an approved design and construction technology, in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4747, are required to submit only the technology installation and operation plan in Paragraph B.4 of this Section and the verification monitoring plan in Paragraph B.7 of this Section. Facilities that are required to meet only impingement mortality performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B.1 are required to submit only a study for the impingement mortality reduction requirements. The study must include the following information.

1. Proposal for Information Collection. You must submit to the state administrative authority for review and comment a description of the information you will use to support your study. The proposal for information must be submitted prior to the start of information collection activities, but you may initiate such activities prior to receiving comment from the state administrative authority. The proposal must include:

a. a description of the proposed and/or implemented technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures to be evaluated in the study;

b. a list and description of any historical studies characterizing impingement mortality and entrainment and/or the physical and biological conditions in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structures and their relevance to this proposed study. If you propose to use existing data, you must demonstrate the extent to which the data are representative of current conditions and that the data were collected using appropriate quality assurance/quality control procedures;

c. a summary of any past or ongoing consultations with appropriate federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife agencies that are relevant to this study and a copy of written comments received as a result of such consultations; and

d. a sampling plan for any new field studies you propose to conduct in order to ensure that you have sufficient data to develop a scientifically-valid estimate of impingement mortality and entrainment at your site. The sampling plan must document all methods and quality assurance/quality control procedures for sampling and data analysis. The sampling and data analysis methods you propose must be appropriate for a quantitative survey and include consideration of the methods used in other studies performed in the source water body. The sampling plan must include a description of the study area, including the area of influence of the cooling water intake structure, and provide a taxonomic identification of the sampled or evaluated biological assemblages, including all life stages of fish and shellfish.

2. Source Water Body Flow Information. You must submit to the state administrative authority the following source water body flow information.

a. If your cooling water intake structure is located in a freshwater river or stream, you must provide the annual mean flow of the water body and any supporting documentation and engineering calculations to support your analysis of whether your design intake flow is greater than 5 percent of the mean annual flow of the river or stream for purposes of determining applicable performance standards under Subsection B of this Section. Representative historical data (from a period of time up to 10 years, if available) must be used.

b. If your cooling water intake structure is located in a lake or a reservoir and you propose to increase its design intake flow, you must provide a description of the thermal stratification in the water body, and any supporting documentation and engineering calculations to show that the total design intake flow after the increase will not disrupt the natural thermal stratification and turnover pattern in a way that adversely impacts fisheries, including the results of any consultations with federal, state, or tribal fish and wildlife management agencies.

3. Impingement Mortality and/or Entrainment Characterization Study. You must submit to the state administrative authority an impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study, whose purpose is to provide information to support the development of a calculation baseline for evaluating impingement mortality and entrainment and to characterize current impingement mortality and entrainment. The impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study must include the following, in sufficient detail to support development of the other elements of the comprehensive demonstration study:

a. taxonomic identifications of all life stages of fish, shellfish, and any species protected under federal, state, or tribal law, including threatened or endangered species, that are in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure and are susceptible to impingement and entrainment;

b. a characterization of all life stages of fish, shellfish, and any species protected under federal, state, or tribal law, including threatened or endangered species, identified in accordance with Subparagraph B.3.a of this Section, including a description of the abundance and temporal and spatial characteristics in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure, based on sufficient data to characterize annual, seasonal, and diel variations in impingement mortality and entrainment (e.g., related to climate and weather differences, spawning, feeding, and water column migration). These may include historical data that are representative of the current operation of your facility and of biological conditions at the site; and

c. documentation of the current impingement mortality and entrainment of all life stages of fish, shellfish, and any species protected under federal, state, or tribal law, including threatened or endangered species, identified in accordance with Subparagraph B.3.a of this Section and an estimate of impingement mortality and entrainment to be used as the calculation baseline. The documentation may include historical data that are representative of the current operation of your facility and of biological conditions at the site. Impingement mortality and entrainment samples to support the calculations required in Clause B.4.a.iii and Subparagraph B.5.c of this Section must be collected during periods of representative operational flows for the cooling water intake structure, and the flows associated with the samples must be documented.

4. Technology and Compliance Assessment Information

a. Design and Construction Technology Plan. If you choose to use design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, in whole or in part, to meet the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4737.A.2 or 3, you must submit a design and construction technology plan to the state administrative authority for review and approval. In the plan, you must provide the capacity utilization rate for your facility, or for individual intake structures where applicable, in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4735, and provide supporting data, including the average annual net generation of the facility (in MWh) measured over a five-year period, if available, of representative operating conditions and the total net capacity of the facility (in MW), and underlying calculations. The plan must explain the technologies and/or operational measures you have in place and/or have selected to meet the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737. Examples of potentially appropriate technologies may include, but are not limited to, wedgewire screens, fine mesh screens, fish handling and return systems, barrier nets, aquatic filter barrier systems, vertical and/or lateral relocation of the cooling water intake structure, and enlargement of the cooling water intake structure opening to reduce velocity. Examples of potentially appropriate operational measures may include, but are not limited to, seasonal shutdowns, reductions in flow, and continuous or more frequent rotation of traveling screens. The plan must contain the following information:

i. a narrative description of the design and operation of all design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, existing and proposed, including fish handling and return systems, that you have in place or will use to meet the requirements to reduce impingement mortality of those species expected to be most susceptible to impingement, and information that demonstrates the efficacy of the technologies and/or operational measures for those species;

ii. a narrative description of the design and operation of all design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, existing and proposed, that you have in place or will use to meet the requirements to reduce entrainment of those species expected to be the most susceptible to entrainment, if applicable, and information that demonstrates the efficacy of the technologies and/or operational measures for those species;

iii. calculations of the reduction in impingement mortality and entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish that would be achieved by the technologies and/or operational measures you have selected based on the impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study in Paragraph B.3 of this Section. In determining compliance with any requirements to reduce impingement mortality or entrainment, you must assess the total reduction in impingement mortality and entrainment against the calculation baseline determined in accordance with Paragraph B.3 of this Section. Reductions in impingement mortality and entrainment from this calculation baseline as a result of any design and construction technologies and/or operational measures already implemented at your facility should be added to the reductions expected to be achieved by any additional design and/or construction technologies and operational measures that will be implemented, and any increases in fish and shellfish within the water body attributable to your restoration measures. Facilities that recirculate a portion of their flow, but do not reduce flow sufficiently to satisfy the compliance option in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.1.a, may take into account the reduction in impingement mortality and entrainment associated with the reduction in flow when determining the net reduction associated with existing design and construction technologies and/or operational measures. This estimate must include a site-specific evaluation of the suitability of the technologies and/or operational measures based on the species that are found at the site, and may be determined based on representative studies (i.e., studies that have been conducted at a similar facility's cooling water intake structures located in the same water body type with similar biological characteristics) and/or site-specific technology prototype or pilot studies; and

iv. design and engineering calculations, drawings, and estimates prepared by a qualified professional to support the descriptions required by Clauses B.4.a.i and ii of this Section.

b. Technology Installation and Operation Plan. If you choose the compliance alternative in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.2, 3, 4, or 5 and use design and construction technologies and/or operational measures in whole or in part to comply with the applicable requirements of LAC 33:IX.4737, you must submit the following information with your application for review and approval by the state administrative authority:

i. a schedule for the installation and maintenance of any new design and construction technologies. Any downtime of generating units to accommodate installation and/or maintenance of these technologies should be scheduled to coincide with otherwise necessary downtime (e.g., for repair, overhaul, or routine maintenance of the generating units) to the extent practicable. Where additional downtime is required, you may coordinate scheduling of this downtime with the North American Electric Reliability Council and/or other generators in your area to ensure that impacts to reliability and supply are minimized;

ii. a list of operational and other parameters to be monitored, and the location at which and frequency with which you will monitor them;

iii. a list of activities you will undertake to ensure to the degree practicable the efficacy of installed design and construction technologies and operational measures, and your schedule for implementing them;

iv. a schedule and method for assessing the efficacy of any installed design and construction technologies and operational measures in meeting applicable performance standards or site-specific requirements, including an adaptive management plan for revising design and construction technologies, operational measures, operation and maintenance requirements, and/or monitoring requirements if your assessment indicates that applicable performance standards or site-specific requirements are not being met; and

v. if you choose the compliance alternative in LAC 33:IX.4737A.4, documentation that the appropriate site conditions in LAC 33:IX.4747.A or B exist at your facility.

5. Restoration Plan. If you propose to use restoration measures, in whole or in part, to meet the applicable requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737, you must address species of concern identified in consultation with federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife management agencies with responsibility for fisheries and wildlife potentially affected by your cooling water intake structure. The following information must be submitted with your application for review and approval by the state administrative authority.

a. You must provide a demonstration to the state administrative authority that you have evaluated the use of design and construction technologies and/or operational measures for your facility and an explanation of how you determined that restoration would be more feasible, cost-effective, or environmentally desirable.

b. You must provide a narrative description of the design and operation of all restoration measures, existing and proposed, that you have in place or will use to produce fish and shellfish.

c. You must provide a quantification of the ecological benefits of the proposed restoration measures. You must use information from the impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study required in Paragraph B.3 of this Section, and any other available and appropriate information, to estimate the reduction in fish and shellfish impingement mortality and/or entrainment that would be necessary for your facility to comply with LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2. You must then calculate the production of fish and shellfish that you will achieve with the restoration measures you will or have already installed. You must include a discussion of the nature and magnitude of uncertainty associated with the performance of these restoration measures. You must also include a discussion of the time frame within which these ecological benefits are expected to accrue.

d. You must design calculations, drawings, and estimates to document that your proposed restoration measures in combination with design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, or alone, will meet the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2. If the restoration measures address the same fish and shellfish species identified in the impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study (in-kind restoration), you must demonstrate that the restoration measures will produce a level of these fish and shellfish substantially similar to that which would result from meeting applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B, or that they will satisfy site-specific requirements established in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5. If the restoration measures address fish and shellfish species different from those identified in the impingement mortality and/or entrainment characterization study (out-of-kind restoration), you must demonstrate that the restoration measures produce ecological benefits substantially similar to or greater than those that would be realized through in-kind restoration. Such a demonstration should be based on a watershed approach to restoration planning and consider applicable multi-agency watershed restoration plans, site-specific peer-reviewed ecological studies, and/or consultation with appropriate federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife management agencies.

e. You must provide a plan utilizing an adaptive management method for implementing, maintaining, and demonstrating the efficacy of the restoration measures you have selected and for determining the extent to which the restoration measures, or the restoration measures in combination with design and construction technologies and operational measures, have met the applicable requirements of LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2. The plan must include:

i. a monitoring plan that includes a list of the restoration parameters that will be monitored, the frequency with which you will monitor them, and success criteria for each parameter;

ii. a list of activities you will undertake to ensure the efficacy of the restoration measures, a description of the linkages between these activities and the items in Clause B.5.e.i of this Section, and an implementation schedule; and

iii. a process for revising the restoration plan as new information, including monitoring data, becomes available, if the applicable requirements under LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2 are not being met.

f. You must provide a summary of any past or ongoing consultation with appropriate federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife management agencies on your use of restoration measures, including a copy of any written comments received as a result of such consultations.

g. If requested by the state administrative authority, you must provide a peer review of the items you submit for the restoration plan. You must choose the peer reviewers in consultation with the state administrative authority, who may consult with EPA and federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife management agencies with responsibility for fish and wildlife potentially affected by your cooling water intake structure. Peer reviewers must have appropriate qualifications (e.g., in the fields of geology, engineering, and/or biology, etc.) depending upon the materials to be reviewed.

h. You must provide a description of the information to be included in a biannual status report to the state administrative authority.

6. Information to Support Site-Specific Determination of Best Technology Available For Minimizing Adverse Environmental Impact. If you have requested a site-specific determination of best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5.a because of costs significantly greater than those considered by the administrator for a facility like yours in establishing the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B, you must provide to the state administrative authority the information specified in Subparagraphs B.6.a and c of this Section. If you have requested a site-specific determination of best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5.b because of costs significantly greater than the benefits of meeting the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B at your facility, you must provide the information specified in Subparagraphs B.6.a and c of this Section.

a. Comprehensive Cost Evaluation Study. You must perform and submit the results of a comprehensive cost evaluation study that includes:

i. engineering cost estimates in sufficient detail to document the costs of implementing design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures at your facility that would be needed to meet the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B;

ii. a demonstration that the costs documented in Clause B.6.a.i of this Section significantly exceed either those considered by the administrator for a facility like yours in establishing the applicable performance standards or the benefits of meeting the applicable performance standards at your facility; and

iii. engineering cost estimates in sufficient detail to document the costs of implementing the design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures in your site-specific technology plan developed in accordance with Subparagraph B.6.c of this Section.

b. Benefits Valuation Study. If you are seeking a site-specific determination of best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact because of costs significantly greater than the benefits of meeting the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B at your facility, you must use a comprehensive method to fully value the impacts of impingement mortality and entrainment at your site and the benefits achievable by meeting the applicable performance standards. In addition to the valuation estimates, the benefit study must include the following:

i. a description of the method used to value commercial, recreational, and ecological benefits, including any non-use benefits, if applicable;

ii. documentation of the basis for any assumptions and quantitative estimates. If you plan to use an entrainment survival rate other than zero, you must submit a determination of entrainment survival at your facility based on a study approved by the state administrative authority;

iii. an analysis of the effects of significant sources of uncertainty on the results of the study; and

iv. if requested by the state administrative authority, a peer review of the items you submit in the benefits valuation study. You must choose the peer reviewers in consultation with the state administrative authority, who may consult with EPA and federal, state, and tribal fish and wildlife management agencies with responsibility for fish and wildlife potentially affected by your cooling water intake structure. Peer reviewers must have appropriate qualifications depending upon the materials to be reviewed; and

v. a narrative description of any non-monetized benefits that would be realized at your site if you were to meet the applicable performance standards, and a qualitative assessment of their magnitude and significance.

c. Site-Specific Technology Plan. Based on the results of the comprehensive cost evaluation study required by Subparagraph B.6.a of this Section, and the benefits valuation study required by Subparagraph B.6.b of this Section, if applicable, you must submit a site-specific technology plan to the state administrative authority for review and approval. The plan must contain the following information:

i. a narrative description of the design and operation of all existing and proposed design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures that you have selected in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5;

ii. an engineering estimate of the efficacy of the proposed and/or implemented design and construction technologies or operational measures, and/or restoration measures. This estimate must include a site-specific evaluation of the suitability of the technologies or operational measures for reducing impingement mortality and/or entrainment, as applicable, of all life stages of fish and shellfish based on representative studies (e.g., studies that have been conducted at cooling water intake structures located in the same water body type with similar biological characteristics) and, if applicable, site-specific technology prototype or pilot studies. If restoration measures will be used, you must provide a restoration plan that includes the elements described in Paragraph B.5 of this Section;

iii. a demonstration that the proposed and/or implemented design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures achieve an efficacy that is as close as practicable to the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B without resulting in costs significantly greater than either the costs considered by the administrator for a facility like yours in establishing the applicable performance standards or, as appropriate, the benefits of complying with the applicable performance standards at your facility; and

iv. design and engineering calculations, drawings, and estimates prepared by a qualified professional to support the elements of the plan.

7. Verification Monitoring Plan. If you comply using compliance alternatives in LAC 33:IX.4737.A.2, 3, 4, or 5 using design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, you must submit a plan to conduct, at a minimum, two years of monitoring to verify the full-scale performance of the proposed or already-implemented technologies and/or operational measures. The verification study must begin once the design and construction technologies and/or operational measures are installed and continue for a period of time that is sufficient to demonstrate to the state administrative authority whether the facility is meeting the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B or site-specific requirements developed in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5. The plan must provide the following:

a. a description of the frequency and duration of monitoring, the parameters to be monitored, and the basis for determining the parameters and the frequency and duration for monitoring. The parameters selected and duration and frequency of monitoring must be consistent with any method for assessing success in meeting applicable performance standards in your technology installation and operation plan as required by Subparagraph B.4.b of this Section;

b. a proposal on how naturally moribund fish and shellfish that enter the cooling water intake structure would be identified and taken into account in assessing success in meeting the performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B; and

c. a description of the information to be included in a biannual status report to the state administrative authority.

La. Admin. Code tit. 33, § IX-4739

Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Assessment, LR 31:432 (February 2005).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2001 et seq., and in particular Section 2074(B)(3) and (B)(4)