Which Of These Potential Sources Of Water Pollution Is Excluded From The Clean Water Act?

Growing public sensation and business for controlling water pollution led to enactment of the Federal H2o Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (33 UsaC. 1251 et seq.). As amended in 1977 (P.L. 95-217), this law became commonly known as the Clean Water Deed (CWA). The CWA is the principle law governing pollution control and water quality of the Nation's waterways. The object of the CWA is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation's waters (33 U.s.C. 1251).

The CWA establishes conditions and permitting for discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United states nether the National Pollution Discharge Emptying System (NPDES) and gave the Environmental Protection Bureau (EPA) the say-so to implement pollution command programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry and h2o quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. The CWA made it unlawful for any person to belch any pollutant from a point source into waters of the U.s., unless a NPDES allow was obtained under its provisions.

Under Sections 301, 302, 304, and 306 of the CWA, the EPA issues technology-based effluent guidelines that establish discharge standards based on treatment technologies that are available and economically doable. Each EPA Region issues permits that come across or exceed the guidelines and standards. It also funded the structure of sewage treatment plants nether the construction grants program and recognized the need for planning to address the disquisitional problems posed by nonpoint source pollution.

CWA - Legal Responsibility and Regulatory Enforcement

The EPA regulates all waste material streams generated from offshore oil and gas activities, primarily by general permits. The EPA may not issue a permit for a discharge into body of water waters unless the belch complies with the guidelines established under Section 403(c) of the CWA. The intent of these guidelines is to preclude deposition of the marine environment and require an assessment of the effect of the proposed discharges on sensitive biological communities and aesthetic, recreational, and economic values.

CWA - Guidelines and Standards

Direct dischargers (an OCS operator, for case) must comply with the effluent limitations guidelines and the new source performance standards in the NPDES permits; indirect dischargers must comply with the pretreatment standards. The most recent effluent limitations guidelines for the oil and gas extraction point-source category were published in 1993. The EPA likewise published new guidelines for the discharge of synthetic-based drilling fluids (SBF) on January 22, 2001 [66 FR 6850 (January 22, 2001).

Technology-Based Effluent Limitations Guidelines

Existing point source dischargers (exploratory wells and grandfathered development and product facilities) are regulated using technology-based effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) [40 CFR Role 435]. Regulated wastes include drilling fluids and cuttings, produced water, sanitary wastes, and deck drainage amongst others. Three broad categories of pollutants are identified in the guidelines: conventional, toxic, and not-conventional, which are described below. The level of required discharge command is dependent on the category of the pollutant.

Conventional pollutants are contained in the sanitary wastes of households, businesses, and industries. These pollutants include fecal coliform, total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, pH, and oil and grease (e.g., hydrocarbons, fats, oils, waxes, and high-molecular fat acids).

Toxic pollutants are pollutants or combinations of pollutants, including disease-causing agents, which after belch and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the ground of information available to the Administrator of EPA, cause death, illness, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring. Toxic pollutants also include those pollutants listed by the Administrator nether CWA Section 307(a)(1) or any pollutant listed under Department 405(d) which relates to sludge management.

Non-conventional pollutants are all pollutants that are non included in the list of conventional or toxic pollutants in 40 CFR Part 401, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), full organic carbon (TOC), nitrogen, and phosphorus.

New Source Performance Standards

New signal sources and existing betoken sources of pollutants have dissimilar NPDES regulations. New sources are subject field to more rigorous effluent limits than existing sources based on the thought that information technology is cheaper to minimize effluent pollutants if ecology controls are considered during establish design than if an existing facility is retrofitted. New source discharges must comply with standards based on the performance of demonstrated technology with the greatest degree of effluent reduction. These new source performance standards (NSPS) should represent the almost stringent numerical values attainable. NSPS are based upon the best available demonstrated control technology and are at least as stringent as best bachelor technology.

The NPDES guidelines ascertain a new source every bit any expanse in which significant site grooming work is done. EPA interprets "meaning site preparation" for offshore effluent guidelines equally "the procedure of immigration and preparing an surface area of the ocean floor for purposes of constructing or placing a evolution or production facility on or over the site." Thus, development and production facilities at a new site would exist new sources. Evolution and production facilities are existing sources if pregnant site preparation work took place before NSPS became effective. Exploratory wells are not considered new sources because site preparation is not considered significant.

Oil Pollution Prevention

Originally published in 1973 under the authority of Section 311 of the CWA, the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation sets along requirements for prevention of, preparedness for, and response to oil discharges at specific not-transportation-related facilities. To forestall oil from reaching navigable waters and adjoining shorelines, and to comprise discharges of oil, the regulation requires these facilities to develop and implement Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans and establishes procedures, methods, and equipment requirements (Subparts A, B, and C).

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA xc) amended the CWA, and provided new requirements for contingency planning by government and industry nether the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. OPA 90 as well increased penalties for regulatory noncompliance, broadened the response and enforcement authorities of the federal government, and preserved state authority to establish laws governing oil spill prevention and response. On July 1, 1994, EPA finalized the revisions that direct facility owners or operators to set and submit plans for responding to a worst-case discharge of oil (Subpart D).

OPA 90 gave the Secretary of the Interior authority over offshore facilities and associated pipelines, with the exception of deepwater ports, for Land and Federal offshore waters. The Secretary in plough delegated this OPA 90 authority to BOEM or BSEE. The resulting tasks for BOEM include the following: reviewing exploration and development plans, reviewing spill financial liability limits, and certifying spill financial responsibility.  The resulting tasks for BSEE include:  enforcing spill prevention measures, reviewing spill response plans, inspecting spill containment and cleanup equipment.

Cooling Water Intake

Department 316(b) of the CWA requires that the location, design, construction and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best engineering science available for minimizing adverse ecology impact. The regulations are designed to minimize harmful impacts on aquatic life caused by cooling h2o intake structures. In Stage 3 implementation of the new standards, certain existing facilities and new offshore and coastal oil and gas extraction facilities are included. EPA has published the tertiary and terminal function of this rule which establishes categorical requirements under section 316(b) of the CWA for new offshore oil and gas extraction facilities that have a blueprint intake flow threshold of greater than two million gallons per 24-hour interval (MGD) and that withdraw at least 25 percent of the water exclusively for cooling purposes. The Administrator signed this dominion on June 1, 2006, and information technology was published in the Federal Register [71 FR 35005, June xvi, 2006].

CWA – Permitting

The EPA issues full general and private NPDES permits for a five-year flow. These permits are discipline to renewal for subsequent v-year periods. Full general permits are written for a specific industrial category inside a limited geographic surface area. The general permit allows for streamlining of the permitting process for similar activities. Individual permits heighten the protection of sensitive resources while still allowing the development of free energy resources. Individual permits provide more than opportunity for EPA evaluation and input to OCS oil and gas facility developments.

Status of Current NPDES Permits:

EPA Region 4

The last NPDES general allow for existing and new source discharges in the Eastern Portion of the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, GMG460000, was issued in Jan, 2022. The let expires in December, 2022.  The permit applies to operators of leases seaward of the 200 meter h2o depth for offshore Alabama and Florida in the Eastern Planning Area and offshore Mississippi and Alabama in the Mobile and Viosca Knoll lease blocks in the Central Planning Area. Region 4 tin be found at: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-epa-region-4-southeast.

EPA Region vi

The EPA Region 6 NPDES OCS Full general Let No. GMG290000 was reissued in October, 2022 and expires in September, 2022.  The BSEE inspectors help the EPA with NPDES offshore platform compliance.  Additionally, the US Coast Guard Marine Safety Office conducts inspections.  More information well-nigh offshore oil and gas discharge permits from Region half dozen tin be constitute at:  http://www.epa.gov/region6/h2o/npdes/genpermit/index.htm.

EPA Region 9

EPA Region nine issued a final General NPDES allow for offshore oil and gas facilities located in Federal water off the coast of southern California in Dec 2004.  On November 30, 2009, EPA issued a modification of the General permit to include the results of a Reasonable Potential analysis, the result of which produced specific water quality-based limits for specific parameters in the produced water effluent for all discharging platforms offshore southern California.  EPA is now in the procedure of reissuing the General NPDES permit including the collection of public comments (the public comment menstruum closed February 4, 2022).  EPA volition and then respond to comments and seek a Consistency Determination from the California Coastal Commission prior to reissuing the allow.  The anticipated date of the Coastal Commission hearing is the week of April 8, 2022.  This permit authorizes discharges from all exploratory facilities operating inside the permit expanse and development and product facilities which are not new sources including the post-obit: Platforms A, B, C, Edith, Ellen, Elly, Eureka, Gail, Gilda, Gina, Grace, Habitat, Harmony, Harvest, Henry, Heritage, Hermosa, Hillhouse, Hidalgo, Hogan, Hondo, Houchin, and Irene.  More data virtually offshore oil and gas discharge permits from Region 9 tin exist plant at:  https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/npdes-permits-epas-pacific-southwest.

EPA Region 10

Two NPDES permits for Alaska oil and gas facilities were issued on Nov. 28, 2022.  In that location are now two divide NPDES full general permits - one for the Chukchi Ocean (AKG 28-8100) and one for the Beaufort Sea (AKG 28-2100).  Nether these general permits, discharges are authorized from oil and gas exploratory facilities in accord with effluent limitations, monitoring requirements, and other conditions contained in the permit.  More information about offshore oil and gas discharge permits from Region 10 can be institute at:
https://world wide web.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-10-pacific-northwest.

Oft asked questions on Offshore Discharges from Oil and Gas Development Operations are addressed further at: http://world wide web.boem.gov/Environmental-Stewardship/Ecology-Assessment/CWA/Offshore-Discharges-From-Oil-and-Gas-Development-Operations---FAQ.aspx.

Source: https://www.boem.gov/environment/environmental-assessment/clean-water-act-cwa

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