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RATIONALE <br />SECOND RENEWAL <br />CDPS GENERAL PERMIT <br />FOR COAL MINING FACILITIES (SURFACE RUNOFF ONLi~ <br />• CDPS NO. COG-850000 <br />Changes ro this general permit upon the second renewal are relatively minor in nature. <br />Minor Wastewater Sources--The Division proposes to allow minor wastewater sources other than surface runoff to be <br />discharged under this general permit in conjunction with surface runoff. Only those sources for which the effluent <br />limitations and monitoring requirements are the same as those in this permit can be included. Each application will be <br />evaluated separately. Additional monitoring may be requested by the Division during the application review process to <br />aid in our determination. There is no way to make a blanket statement of which minor wastewater sources will be included <br />and which minor waste ter sources will be excluded. Generally, a wastewater source would have to be minor in volume <br />and/or constituent concentration to be eligible for coverage. An example would be a small volume of pit or mine water <br />that occurs intermittently for shoe periods of time and would comprise a low percemage of the total volume in a <br />sedimentation pond The pond might be oversized to the degree that this source would not cause a discharge to occur to <br />state waters during periods when the mine water is discharging to the pond. A chemical analysis and possibly, whole <br />effluent toxicity testing, of the source would be required for the Division's determination. <br />Burden of Proof--The Burden of Proof section of the permit (Part /. B.l.d.) is being refined to better demonstrate <br />consistency in its application to all facilities. There was a perception by a small segment of the mining industry that this <br />section discriminated against facilities that had only manual pond dewatering capabilities. This was not the intention. <br />The goal is to provide relief from primary limitations only when necessary, i. e., when precipitation overwhelms a treatment <br />system and it is unable to meet the primary limitations, regardless of the type of discharge structure. The relief is not <br />meant to be applied to all discharges of precipitation-related r~lttent. Otherwise, the primary limitations would never apply <br />to surface runoff, since alf surface runoff rs predpitation-related. This is clearly not the intention of [he regulations. <br />• Whole Efi'Gterrt Toxicity-The discharges authorized under this permit do not contain rout pollutants in toxic amounts, thus <br />whole e,Qluetu toutxty (WEI) regulations do not apply to this permit and w WET testing requirements will be imposed in <br />this permit. If a facility applying for coverage under this permit is determined to have the potential to discharge toxic <br />po/lutanu in tout amounts, the facility will not 6e certified under this permit. It will instead be processed for coverage <br />under art individual permit with WET testing requirements. As noted above however, WET testing at application may be <br />required to assist in determining the eligibility for the facility ro be certified for discharge through this general permit. <br />• Antideeradation-The Division reviewed this renewal permit for compliance with aruidegradation regulations. No <br />limitations have changed, thus there is no increase in loading from those facilities with continuing coverage under the <br />general permit. Additionally, disrJuirges authorized solder this permit are not expected ro occur during low flow conditions, <br />they typically ocaa• when strewn flaws are high and quality a poor due to storm events. It is the Division's determiruttion <br />that arttidegradation does not apply to this permit. <br />Stormwater--Changes from the most recent language in this general permit are few. The Division modified the <br />Testier/Evaluation for Non-Stormwater section to allow identification of non-stormwater discharges without actual <br />sampling. Also, the date by which inspection of inactive industrial sites under Part /.B.2.b)S) must be performed is <br />changed to Otlober 1, 1999, or two years after the site becomes inactive, whichever is earlier. <br />Jon C. Kubic <br />Kathryn Dolan (stormwater) <br />January 22. 1997 <br />Public Notice Comments: No comments were received during the public notice period. The final permit will be unchanged <br />from the draft version with one exception. The requirement to submit duplicate copies of discharge monitoring reports to the <br />Environmental Protection Agency Region VIII is being eliminated. Pan I.D.1. of the permit rejlecu this change. <br />Ion C. Kubic <br />March 20, 1997 <br />