Small Entities and Rulemaking
Upcoming SBAR Panel: Development of a National Rulemaking for Revising the Wastewater Discharge Standards for Steam Electric Power Plants
Top Three Questions
Key Dates and Documents for this SBAR Panel
- Convening Date: Not yet determined
- Completion Date: Not yet determined
About the Rule
- Title: Development of a National Rulemaking for Revising the Wastewater Discharge Standards for Steam Electric Power Plants
- RIN: 2040-AF14
- Docket No.: EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819
- Publication Date for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM): Access the projected publication date on the Regulatory Development and Retrospective Review Tracker (Reg DaRRT).
- Publication Date for Final Rule: Access the projected publication date on Reg DaRRT.
About this SBAR Panel
What is the Implication of the Rulemaking on Small Entities?
Effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) establish technology-based regulations to control industrial wastewater discharges. These regulations protect human health and enhance water quality. EPA issues these wastewater regulations for industrial dischargers that discharge directly to surface waters and also for dischargers that send their wastewater to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). In terms of implementation, the regulations are incorporated into discharge permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and also via local pretreatment agreements.
The effluent guidelines and standards currently in place for Steam Electric Power Generating, at Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 423, apply to a subset of the electric power industry, namely those plants "primarily engaged in the generation of electricity for distribution and sale which results primarily from a process utilizing fossil-type fuel (coal, oil, gas) or nuclear fuel in conjunction with a thermal cycle employing the steam-water system as the thermodynamic medium." (See 40 CFR 423.10) EPA's most recent update to the effluent guidelines for this industry sector was promulgated in 1982.
EPA's review of the wastewater discharges associated with steam electric power generating led the Agency to announce, in September 2009, the start of a rulemaking. The rulemaking will address nuclear-fueled and fossil-fueled (i.e., coal, oil, gas) steam electric power plants, but will place substantial emphasis on certain discharges from coal-fired power plants. The rulemaking will concentrate on a subset of plants that are believed to be responsible for a large share of the toxic pollutant loading released in wastewater discharges from the steam electric power generating industry. Based on the study recently completed, a substantial fraction of the toxic loadings are associated with wet ash handling and wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems present at coal-fired plants.
The key wastewater discharges to be addressed include flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastes from sulfer dioxide (SO2) air pollution controls, coal ash pond discharges, leachate from ash ponds and landfills containing coal combustion residues, coal gasification wastewater, and other waste streams from fossil-fueled and nuclear-fueled power plants. The main pollutants of concern for these discharges include metals (e.g., mercury, arsenic, selenium), nitrogen, and total dissolved solids.
Additional information about EPA's steam electric power generating rulemaking and about effluent guidelines generally is available at EPA's website: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam_index.cfm.
How Can I Learn More?
If you are a small entity, you may be affected by this rulemaking. While the opportunity to participate as a Small Entity Representative (SER) on this Panel has passed, you will have the chance to submit comments concerning this rulemaking during the standard public comment period commencing after publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register.
Monthly updates about the rulemaking are available on the rule's profile page on Reg DaRRT. From this page, you can determine when the propsed rule will publish and, thus, when you will have an opportunity to comment on the rulemaking.
Semiannual updates about the development status of the rulemaking are available on: