Section 205.3 - Public Notice, Public Meetings, and Public Comment(a) Notice shall be published as follows. (1) If the draft general permit will not have statewide applicability, the agency shall publish notice of each draft general permit in the Texas Register and in a daily or weekly newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the activity that is the subject of the proposed general permit.(2) For draft general permits with statewide applicability, notice shall be published in the Texas Register and in at least one newspaper of statewide or regional circulation.(3) The public notice shall be published not later than the 30th day before the commission considers the approval of a general permit.(b) For Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permits, mailed notice of the draft general permit will also be provided to the following: (1) the county judge of the county or counties in which the dischargers under the general permit could be located;(2) if applicable, persons for which notice is required in 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §124.10(c); and(3) any other person the executive director or chief clerk may elect to include.(c) The contents of a public notice of a draft general permit shall:(1) include the applicable information described in § 39.411 of this title (relating to Text of Public Notice);(2) include an invitation for written comments by the public regarding the draft general permit;(3) specify a comment period of at least 30 days; and(4) include either a map or description of the permit area.(d) Requirements relating to public meetings are as follows.(1) The agency may hold a public meeting to provide an additional opportunity for public comment and shall hold such a public meeting when the executive director determines, on the basis of requests, that a significant degree of public interest in a draft general permit exists.(2) Notice of a public meeting shall be by publication in the Texas Register not later than the 30th day before the date of the meeting.(3) Notice of the public meeting shall be mailed to the following: (A) the county judge of the county or counties in which the dischargers under the general permit could be located;(B) if applicable, persons for which notice is required in 40 CFR § 124.10(c);(C) any other person the executive director or chief clerk may elect to include; and(D) persons who filed public comment or request for a public meeting on or before the deadline for filing public comment or request for a public meeting.(4) The contents of a public notice of a public meeting shall include the applicable information described in § 39.411 of this title. Each notice must include an invitation for written or oral comments by the public regarding the draft general permit.(5) The public comment period shall automatically be extended to the close of any public meeting held by the agency on the proposed general permit.(e) If the agency receives public comment during the comment period relating to issuance of a general permit, the executive director shall respond in writing to these comments, and this response shall be made available to the public and filed with the chief clerk at least ten days before the commission considers the approval of the general permit. The response shall address written comments received during the comment period and oral or written comments received during any public meeting held by the agency. The commission shall consider all public comment in making its decision and shall either adopt the executive director's response to public comment or prepare its own response.(1) The commission shall issue its written response to comments on the general permit at the same time the commission issues or denies the general permit.(2) A copy of any issued general permit and response to comments shall be made available to the public for inspection at the agency's Austin office and also in the appropriate regional offices.(3) A notice of the commission's action on the proposed general permit and a copy of its response to comments shall be mailed to each person who made a comment.(4) A notice of the commission's action on the proposed general permit and the text of its response to comments shall be published in the Texas Register.(f) Except as specified in subsection (g) of this section, the requirements of subsections (a) - (e) of this section apply to processing of a new general permit, an amendment, renewal, revocation, or cancellation of a general permit.(g) A general permit may be proposed for minor amendment or minor modification, as described in § 305.62(c) of this title (relating to Amendment), without newspaper publication30 Tex. Admin. Code § 205.3
The provisions of this §205.3 adopted to be effective June 21, 1998, 23 TexReg 6227; amended to be effective September 13, 2000, 25 TexReg 8862; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 45, Number 19, May 8, 2020, TexReg 3095, eff. 5/14/2020