La. Admin. Code tit. 33 § IX-4745

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

Section IX-4745 - As the state administrative authority, what must I do to comply with the requirements of this Subchapter?

A. Permit Application. As the state administrative authority, you must review materials submitted by the applicant under LAC 33:IX.2501.R and LAC 33:IX.4739 before each permit renewal or reissuance.

1. You must review and comment on the proposal for information collection submitted by the facility in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.A.1. You are encouraged to provide comments expeditiously so that the permit applicant can make responsive modifications to its information gathering activities. If a facility submits a request in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.A.2.b for an alternate schedule for submitting the information required in LAC 33:IX.4739, you must approve a schedule that is as expeditious as practicable, but does not extend beyond January 7, 2008. If a facility submits a request in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.A.3 to reduce the information about its cooling water intake structures and the source water body required to be submitted in its permit application, other than with the first permit application after September 7, 2004, you must approve the request within 60 days if conditions at the facility and in the water body remain substantially unchanged since the previous application.

2. After receiving the permit application from the owner or operator of a Phase II existing facility, you must determine which of the requirements specified in LAC 33:IX.4737 apply to the facility. In addition, you must review materials to determine compliance with the applicable requirements.

3. At each permit renewal, you must review the application materials and monitoring data to determine whether new or revised requirements for design and construction technologies, operational measures, or restoration measures should be included in the permit to meet the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B or alternative site-specific requirements established in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4747.A.5.

B. Permitting Requirements. Section 316(b) (of the CWA) requirements are implemented for a facility through an LPDES permit. As the state administrative authority, you must consider the information submitted by the Phase II existing facility in its permit application, and determine the appropriate requirements and conditions to include in the permit based on the compliance alternatives in LAC 33:IX.4737.A. The following requirements must be included in each permit.

1. Cooling Water Intake Structure Requirements. The permit conditions must include the requirements that implement the applicable provisions of LAC 33:IX.4737. You must evaluate the performance of the design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures proposed and implemented by the facility and require additional or different design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures, and/or improved operation and maintenance of existing technologies and measures, if needed to meet the applicable performance standards, restoration requirements, or alternative site-specific requirements. In determining compliance with the performance standards for facilities proposing to increase withdrawals of cooling water from a lake or a reservoir in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.B.3, you must consider anthropogenic factors (those not considered "natural") unrelated to the Phase II existing facility's cooling water intake structures that can influence the occurrence and location of a thermocline. These include source water inflows, other water withdrawals, managed water uses, wastewater discharges, and flow/level management practices (e.g., some reservoirs release water from deeper bottom layers). As the state administrative authority, you must coordinate with appropriate federal, state, or tribal fish and wildlife management agencies to determine if any disruption of the natural thermal stratification resulting from the proposed increased withdrawal of cooling water adversely affects the management of fisheries.

a. You must review and approve the design and construction technology plan required in LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4 to evaluate the suitability and feasibility of the design and construction technologies and/or operational measures proposed to meet the performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B or site-specific requirements developed in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5.

b. If the facility proposes restoration measures in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.C, you must review and approve the restoration plan required under LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5 to determine whether the proposed measures, alone or in combination with design and construction technologies and/or operational measures, will meet the requirements under LAC 33:IX.4737.C.

c. In each reissued permit, you must include a condition in the permit requiring the facility to reduce impingement mortality and entrainment, or to increase fish production, if applicable, commensurate with the efficacy at the facility of the installed design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures.

d. If the facility implements design and construction technologies and/or operational measures and requests that compliance with the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737 be measured for the first permit term, or subsequent permit terms, if applicable, employing the technology installation and operation plan in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b, you must review the technology installation and operation plan to ensure that it meets the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b. If the technology installation and operation plan meets the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b, you must approve the technology installation and operation plan and require the facility to meet the terms of the plan including any revision to the plan that may be necessary if applicable performance standards or alternative site-specific requirements are not being met. If the facility implements restoration measures and requests that compliance with the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737 be measured for the first permit term, or subsequent permit terms, if applicable, employing a restoration plan in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5, you must review the restoration plan to ensure it meets the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5. If the restoration plan meets the requirements of LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5, you must approve the plan and require the facility to meet the terms of the plan including any revision to the plan that may be necessary if applicable performance standards or site-specific requirements are not being met. In determining whether to approve a technology installation and operation plan or restoration plan, you must evaluate whether the design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures the facility has installed, or proposes to install, can reasonably be expected to meet the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B, restoration requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2, and/or alternative site-specific requirements established in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5, and whether the technology installation and operation plan and/or the restoration plan complies with the applicable requirements of LAC 33:IX.4739.B. In reviewing the technology installation and operation plan, you must approve any reasonable scheduling provisions that are designed to ensure that impacts to energy reliability and supply are minimized, in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b.i. If the facility does not request that compliance with the requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737 be measured employing a technology installation and operation plan and/or a restoration plan, or the facility has not been in compliance with the terms of its current technology installation and operation plan and/or restoration plan during the preceding permit term, you must require the facility to comply with the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B, restoration requirement in LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2, and/or alternative site-specific requirements developed in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5. In considering a permit application, you must review the performance of the design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures implemented and require additional or different design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures, and/or improved operation and maintenance of existing technologies and measures, if needed to meet the applicable performance standards, restoration requirements, and/or alternative site-specific requirements.

e. You must review and approve the proposed verification monitoring plan submitted under LAC 33:IX.4739.B.7 for design and construction technologies, and/or monitoring provisions of the restoration plan submitted under LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5.e, and require that the monitoring continue for a sufficient period of time to demonstrate whether the design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures meet the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737.B, restoration requirements in LAC 33:IX.4737.C.2, and/or site-specific requirements established in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5.

f. If a facility requests requirements based on a site-specific determination of best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact, you must review the application materials submitted under LAC 33:IX.4739.B.6 and any other information you may have, including quantitative and qualitative benefits, that would be relevant to a determination of whether alternative requirements are appropriate for the facility. If a facility submits a study to support entrainment survival at the facility, you must review and approve the results of that study. If you determine that alternative requirements are appropriate, you must make a site-specific determination of best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5. You, as the state administrative authority, may request revisions to the information submitted by the facility in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4739.B.6 if it does not provide an adequate basis for you to make this determination. Any alternative site-specific requirements established based on new and/or existing design and construction technologies, operational measures, and/or restoration measures, must achieve an efficacy that is, in your judgment, as close as practicable to the applicable performance standards of LAC 33:IX.4737.B without resulting in costs that are significantly greater than the costs considered by the state administrative authority for a like facility in establishing the applicable performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737, determined in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4737.A.5.a.i-vi, or the benefits of complying with the applicable performance standards at the facility.

g. You must review the proposed methods for assessing success in meeting applicable performance standards and/or restoration requirements submitted by the facility under LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b.iv and/or B.5.e.i, evaluate those and other available methods, and specify how assessment of success in meeting the performance standards and/or restoration requirements will be determined, including the averaging period for determining the percent reduction in impingement mortality and entrainment and/or the production of fish and shellfish. Compliance for facilities that request that compliance be measured employing a technology installation and operation plan and/or restoration plan will be determined in accordance with Subparagraph B.1.d of this Section.

2. Monitoring Conditions. You must require the facility to perform monitoring in accordance with the technology installation and operation plan in LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b, the restoration plan required by LAC 33:IX.4739.B.5, if applicable, and the verification monitoring plan required by LAC 33:IX.4739.B.7. In determining any additional applicable monitoring requirements in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4741, you must consider the monitoring facility's verification monitoring, technology installation and operation, and/or restoration plans, as appropriate. You may modify the monitoring program based on changes in physical or biological conditions in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure.

3. Recordkeeping and Reporting. At a minimum, the permit must require the facility to report and keep records specified in LAC 33:IX.4743.

4. Design and Construction Technology Approval

a. For a facility that chooses to demonstrate that it has installed and can properly operate and maintain a design and construction technology approved in accordance with LAC 33:IX.4747, the state administrative authority must review and approve the information submitted in the technology installation and operation plan in LAC 33:IX.4739.B.4.b and determine if it meets the criteria in LAC 33:IX.4747.

b. If a person requests approval of a technology under LAC 33:IX.4747.B, the state administrative authority must review and approve the information submitted and determine its suitability for widespread use at facilities with similar site conditions in its jurisdiction with minimal study. As the state administrative authority, you must evaluate the adequacy of the technology when installed in accordance with the required design criteria and site conditions to consistently meet the performance standards in LAC 33:IX.4737. You, as the state administrative authority, may only approve a technology following public notice and consideration of comment regarding such approval.

5. Biannual Status Report. You must specify monitoring data and other information to be included in a status report every two years. The other information may include operation and maintenance records, summaries of adaptive management activities, or any other information that is relevant to determining compliance with the terms of the facility's technology operation and installation plan and/or restoration plan.

La. Admin. Code tit. 33, § IX-4745

Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Assessment, LR 31:436 (February 2005).

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