The Most Extensive Revisions to Ohio’s Water Quality Standards in 30 Years

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) has recently released three (3) of four (4) draft water quality rule packages.  The draft rule packages for Water Quality Standards, Antidegradation, and Section 401 Water Quality Certifications have been released for public review and comment.  The fourth draft rule package for the Stream Mitigation Protocol will be released in early 2009 and comments on all four (4) rule packages will be due 60 days after the release of the fourth package by Ohio EPA.  According to Ohio EPA, these draft rules contain the most extensive revisions to Ohio’s water quality standards in 30 years and will impact virtually all industry sectors in Ohio.

The revisions to these rules will:

• Update surface water standards to reflect the most recent scientific information and U.S. EPA guidance;
• Expand the number of beneficial uses of water recognized in the Ohio water quality standards to include drainage, navigation and primary headwater habitat;
• Update the antidegradation rule to improve protection of high-quality waters;
• Reduce the time and work needed to issue permits, especially Section 401 water quality certifications; Establish a method to implement protective stream mitigation requirements inSection 401 water quality certifications; and

• Create a State Water Quality Permit to regulate impacts to “waters of the state” that no longer fall under Clean Water Act jurisdiction.

These rule revisions will increase the complexity and stringency of the water rules and will affect anyone who holds a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater discharge permit in Ohio.

U.S. EPA Lowers Air Quality Standard for Lead to a Level 10 Times Lower Than the Current Standard

On October 16, 2008, U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that U.S. EPA is revising the primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for lead.  U.S. EPA is setting both the primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) standard at 0.15 µg/m3, measured as total suspended particles (TSP).  The previous standards, set in 1978, were 1.5 µg/m3.  In addition, U.S. EPA has changed the calculation method for the averaging time used to determine whether an area meets the new standards from calendar quarters to a rolling three-month average.  A three-year period, without any of the rolling three-month averages above the new standards, will be required to demonstrate compliance.  U.S. EPA’s action to lower the air quality standards for lead will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. 

The new lead NAAQS rule also redesigns the nation’s lead monitoring network by requiring states and local agencies to, at a minimum, place monitors near sources that emit one ton or more of lead per year and in each urban area with a population greater than 500,000.  About half of the newly required lead monitors are to be operational by January 1, 2010, with the other half to be operational by January 1, 2011.

States are required to submit recommendations for area attainment designations by October 2009.  U.S. EPA will make final attainment designations no later than January 2012.  Where sufficient data is available from the existing monitoring network, U.S. EPA intends to complete initial designations as soon as possible.  By June 2013, states must submit their State Implementation Plans (SIPs) describing how they will meet the new lead standards.  Attainment of the new lead standards must be achieved no later than January 2017. 

ALL4 Joins Climate Registry

The Climate Registry, which is a unified registry with transparent standards for calculating, verifying and publicly reporting greenhouse gas emissions for businesses and governments in North America, has just welcomed All4 Inc. (ALL4) as a new reporting member.  Beginning in 2009, ALL4 will report their GHG emissions to the Climate Registry.  In addition to ALL4 joining The Climate Registry as a reporting member, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) officially adopted The Climate Registry as its voluntary GHG reporting program per the recommendations of the Pennsylvania Climate Change Advisory.