Draft General NPDES Permit for Seafood Processors in Alaska in Waters of the United States: General NPDES Permit No. AK-G52-0000

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5021-4]

Draft General NPDES Permit for Seafood Processors in Alaska in

Waters of the United States: General NPDES Permit No. AK-G52-0000

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10.

ACTION: Notice of Draft General NPDES Permit, and Notice of Finding of

No Significant Impact.

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SUMMARY: The Director, Water Division, EPA Region 10, is proposing to

reissue general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

permit no. AK-G52-0000 for seafood processors in Alaska pursuant to the

provisions of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. The proposed

general NPDES permit will authorize discharges from offshore, nearshore

and shore-based vessels and onshore facilities engaged in the

processing of fresh, frozen, canned, smoked, salted and pickled

seafoods. The proposed permit will also authorize discharges from

offshore vessels (operating more than one nautical mile from shore at

MLLW) that are engaged in the processing of seafood paste, mince or

meal. The proposed permit will authorize discharges of processing

wastes, process disinfectants, sanitary wastewater and other

wastewaters, including domestic wastewater, cooling water, boiler

water, gray water, freshwater pressure relief water, refrigeration

condensate, water used to transfer seafood to a facility, and live tank

water. The proposed permit will authorize discharges to waters of the

United States in and contiguous to the State of Alaska, except for

receiving waters excluded from coverage as protected, special, at-risk,

degraded or adjacent to a designated ``seafood processing center.''

The proposed general NPDES permit for seafood processors in Alaska

will not authorize discharges from nearshore or shore-based seafood

processors of mince, paste or meal (operating one nautical mile or less

from shore at MLLW). The proposed permit will not authorize discharges

of petroleum hydrocarbons, toxic pollutants, or other pollutants not

specified in the permit. The proposed permit will not authorize

discharges to waters excluded from coverage as protected, special, at-

risk, degraded or adjacent to a designated ``seafood processing

center.''

A draft NPDES permit, fact sheet and other documents of the

administrative record are available upon request.

PUBLIC NOTICE ISSUANCE DATE: Monday, July 25, 1994.

PUBLIC NOTICE EXPIRATION DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 1994.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Interested persons may submit written comments on

the draft general NPDES permit to the attention of Burney Hill at the

address below. All comments should include the name, address, and

telephone number of the commenter and a concise statement of comment

and the relevant facts upon which it is based. Comments of either

support or concern which are directed at specific, cited permit

requirements are appreciated. Comments must be submitted to EPA on or

before the expiration date of the public notice.

After the expiration date of the public notice, the Director, Water

Division, EPA Region 10, will make a final determination with respect

to reissuance of the general permit. The tentative requirements

contained in the draft general permit will become final conditions if

no substantive comments are received during the public comment period.

The permit is expected to become effective on November 1, 1994.

Persons wishing to comment on State Certification of the proposed

general NPDES permit should submit written comments within this 30-day

comment period to the State of Alaska, Alaska Department of

Environmental Conservation (ADEC), 410 Willoughby Avenue, Suite 105,

Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795. Comments should be addressed to the

attention of Alaska Water Quality Standards Consistency Review.

Persons wishing to comment on the State Determination of

Consistency with the Alaska Coastal Management Program should submit

written comments within this 30-day comment period, to the State of

Alaska, Office of Management and Budget, Division of Governmental

Coordination, P.O. Box AW, Juneau, Alaska 99811-0165. Comments should

be addressed to the attention of Alaska Coastal Management Program

Consistency Review.

Persons wishing to comment on the EPA Finding of No Significant

Impact (FNSI) (see Attachment 1), based on the environmental

assessment, should submit written comments within this 30 day period.

All comments should include the name, address and telephone number of

the commenter and a concise statement of the basis of any comment and

the relevant facts upon which it is based. Comments should be submitted

to Burney Hill at the address below.

PUBLIC HEARING: Public hearings on the proposed general NPDES

permit are tentatively scheduled to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, and

Seattle, Washington. The Anchorage hearing will be held at the Federal

Building, 222 West Seventh, Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, August 25,

1994, from 6 p.m. until all persons have been heard. Persons interested

in making a statement at the Anchorage hearing should contact Valerie

Haney at (907) 271-3651 by 4:00 p.m. PDT by August 22, 1994. The

Seattle hearing will be held at Freeway Park Plaza Building, Room 12A,

1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington, on Tuesday, August 30, 1994,

from 2 p.m. until all persons have been heard. Persons interested in

making a statement at the Seattle hearing should contact Florence

Carroll at the address below or at (206) 553-1760 by 4:00 p.m. PDT on

Friday, August 26, 1994.

Either or both of the public hearings will be cancelled if

insufficient interest is expressed in them. Interested persons can

contact Florence Carroll or Valerie Haney between the hours of 8:30

a.m. and 4 p.m. PDT to confirm that the hearings will take place. At

the hearings, interested persons may submit oral or written statements

concerning the draft general NPDES permit.

APPEAL OF PERMIT: Within 120 days following the service of notice

of EPA's final permit decision under 40 CFR Sec. 124.15, any interested

person may appeal the Permit in the Federal Court of Appeal in

accordance with Section 509(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act. Persons

affected by a general permit may not challenge the conditions of the

the Permit as a right of further EPA proceedings. Instead, they may

either challenge the Permit in court or apply for an individual NPDES

permit and then request a formal hearing on the issuance or denial of

an individual permit.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD: The complete administrative record for the

draft permit is available for public review at the EPA Region 10

Library, 10th Floor, at the address listed below. Copies of the draft

general NPDES permit, fact sheet, and the environmental assessment are

available upon request from the Region 10 Public Information Center at

1-800-424-4EPA (4372).

ADDRESSES: Public comments should be sent to: Environmental Protection

Agency Region 10, Wastewater Management and Enforcement Branch (WD-

137), 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Burney Hill, of EPA Region 10, at the

address listed above or telephone (206) 553-1761.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

After review of the facts presented in the notice printed above, I

hereby certify pursuant to the provision of 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that this

general NPDES permit will not have a significant impact on a

substantial number of small entities. Moreover, the permit reduces a

significant administrative burden on regulated sources.

Dated: July 20, 1994.

Janis Hastings,

Associate Director, Water Division.

Attachment 1.--Finding of No Significant Impact (FNSI)

To All Interested Government Agencies, Public Groups, and

Individuals:

In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

procedures for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA), 40 CFR Part 6, Subpart F, EPA has conducted an environmental

review of the following proposed action:

Reissuance of general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

System (NPDES) permit no. AK-G52-000 to owners and operators of

facilities engaged in the processing of seafood, both floating and

onshore facilities, in certain waters of the State of Alaska and

waters of the United States adjacent to the Alaska State Waters

The general NPDES permit requirements, including effluent

limitations, monitoring provisions, and other conditions applicable

to the operations covered are specified in the proposed permit. The

permit fact sheet describes the basis for the permit provisions.

An environmental assessment (EA) for this proposed action has

been prepared. Under the proposed action, those new source seafood

processing facilities which are excluded from the general NPDES

permit will continue to be subject to individual NEPA reviews,

involving preparation of an EA and, if impacts could be significant,

an environmental impact statement (EIS).

Based on the EA, and in accordance with the guidelines for

determining the significance of federal actions (40 CFR 1508.27) and

EPA criteria for initiating an EIS (40 CFR 6.605), EPA has concluded

that reissuance of the General NPDES Permit will not result in a

significant effect on the human environment. This action will not

significantly affect land use patterns or population, wetlands or

floodplains, threatened or endangered species, farmlands,

ecologically critical areas, historic resources, air quality, water

quality, noise levels, fish and wildlife resources, nor will it

conflict with approved local, regional, or state land use plans or

policies. For the above reasons EPA has determined that an EIS will

not be prepared. A copy of the EA evaluating the potential impacts

of the proposed action and explaining why an EIS is not required is

available upon request by calling (206) 553-1761, or at the above

address, and is incorporated into this FNSI by reference.

Comments supporting or disagreeing with this FNSI may be

submitted to EPA at the above address for consideration. After

evaluating the comments received, EPA will make a final decision. No

administrative action will be taken on the proposed reissuance for

at least 30 days after the release date (indicated above) of this

FNSI. EPA will fully consider all comments received during this

public notice period before taking final action.

Sincerely,

Janice Hastings for Charles E. Findley,

Director, Water Division.

[FR Doc. 94-18325 Filed 7-27-94; 8:45 am]

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