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Case 3:05 -ev -00784 Document 133 -2 Filed 07/14/06 Page 2 of 5 PagelD #: 4499 <br />UNITED STATMENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <br />VVASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 <br />'+c•aAO�' <br />MAN -1 2006 <br />OFFICE OF' <br />WATER <br />Honorable :John Paul Woodb:.y <br />Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) <br />U.S. Dep'artmetn of th�Atmy ' <br />108 Arany pentagon : Room 3E446 <br />Washington, D.C. 70310 -0108 <br />Dear Assistant Secretary Woodley: <br />1-am writhig•to provide clarification-regarding .the applicability of Clean 'Water <br />Act (CWA) Section 404 to the regulat* of'wasste treatmerit-s} sterns,- constructed in <br />waters of the Uriited States, issocimed-with surface-coal mining adiVifts. Our <br />r"peciiye staffs have coordintited to ensure U this clarification is fully consi�tpnt with <br />The CWA.•and with the agencies' impieinentiitg regulations and policies. <br />The clarificatioin provided•in this letter is i*oded to apply only to the particular <br />circumstances of surface coal rhiniq opdradbris as pramiced•in ilia Appalachian <br />1Vfauntain states. These operations typically involve construction of "valley fills" that fill <br />the upper•re tches of hdad%V6ter streams "with dirt and rock from mining 6verburden. At <br />the "toe' of such valley fill, raiitw9ter (and/or spring water) laden with sediment enters <br />the stream below tht valley Fill. 'This sediment -laden water flows downstream to a <br />settling pond locatedM close as practicable to the toe of the, vM ley fill. The Corps <br />regulates, under CWA :Section:404, the-fill for the embankment that,impdunds'the stream <br />0 create the scdixpept•poud acid the discharge of mining dverburden into the stream that <br />constitutes the valley fill:'T`Itss letter addresses th4z legal status „undetr'the CVVA, of the <br />stream segment between the toe -of the valley fill. to where it enters the aidiment pond, <br />and the secUrhent pond itself: <br />The U.S. Enviropmental'Prote0on Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps. of <br />EiTgineet9 (Oarps)•regWadons.include, wftliin the defaiition of the term "waters of the <br />United States,” a provision stating that "waste treatment systeins- includ ig 1reg0tent <br />ponds orlagomis desipted ta.mdef t1t6 reoirements bf the Act (other thccn rarriing'ponds <br />as defined in 40 CVR 4211 1(m) which a4a.meel the criteria el this defnition) are riot <br />Waters of tile United $fates. " (See 40 M. 232.2 and 330FA -32 9.3(a).) Ile <br />applicability of the waste treatment system exclusion was.clarified in u 1992 <br />m4mioran4um front EPA Assistant Adinidisorator for Water.'laluana Witcher. (see <br />October 2,199`2, memorandum from L,aJuana S. Witcher to Charles E: Findley..) That <br />tntemer Address tURLa *'hjjp:'1hvw spa.gov <br />ReeyetodfRecyel" •Panted with Ve"ble OR Basid Inks on Recycled Paper tMtnlmum WW Postw.nsumer eonteno <br />Attachment 5 <br />