News

Biden Expected to Name North Carolina’s Michael Regan as EPA Administrator

On Thursday, reports indicated that President-elect Joe Biden will name Michael Regan, who has led North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality since 2017, as EPA Administrator. If confirmed, Regan will bring a wealth of experience to the position – including just under two decades spent at EPA under Presidents Clinton and Bush, approximately eight years at the Environmental Defense Fund, and a brief time running his own consulting firm. Regan would notably be the second African American to lead EPA, after Lisa Jackson.

In his previous work at state and federal agencies and environmental organizations, Regan has worked extensively on climate change, air and water pollution, energy, and more. One of his career’s biggest accomplishments is having led a multi-billion settlement with Duke Energy over coal ash cleanup at NCDEQ. That deal, along with his work collaborating with a Republican-led state legislature and bringing justice to disadvantaged communities, likely won him the post.  As EPA Administrator, Regan is expected to prioritize combating climate change, regulating polluters, supporting green energy, and promoting environmental justice – the same issues that he has focused on his entire career.

EPA Approves Florida’s 404 Delegation Request

EPA announced that the State of Florida is the first state in more than 25 years to apply for and receive approval to implement a Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 program, joining Michigan and New Jersey as the only states in the country with such authority. This action formally transfers permitting authority under CWA Section 404 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to the State of Florida for a broad range of water resources within the State. This action allows the State to more effectively and efficiently evaluate and issue permits under the CWA to support the health of Florida’s waters, residents, and economy.

On August 5, 2020, EPA Region 4 Administrator Walker and FDEP Secretary Valenstein signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) as part of the assumption process. On August 20, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis submitted a request for EPA to conduct a review and approve Florida’s program to assume administration of the CWA 404 program. Florida’s submission met the standards established under Section 404 of the CWA and implementing regulations and will ensure the protection of Florida’s aquatic resources equal to or better than the existing federal permitting program.

EPA solicited public review and comment on Florida’s proposed program and engaged in extensive stakeholder outreach to ensure that all views were considered during the statutorily mandated 120-day decision period. EPA hosted two virtual public hearings during its review. Additionally, as part of the review process set forth by the CWA and its implementing regulations, EPA sought input from other applicable agencies and reviewed Florida’s proposal for consistency with the CWA. EPA determined that Florida has the necessary authority to operate a CWA Section 404 program and FDEP’s program is consistent with and no less stringent than the requirements of the CWA and its implementing regulations.

Part of the review process included the development of a comprehensive Biological Evaluation of more than 200 endangered species throughout Florida. EPA also consulted with FWS under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, resulting in the issuance of a Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement related to the approval and implementation of Florida’s program. EPA also completed consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and entered into a Programmatic Agreement with FDEP, the State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to ensure that historic properties and cultural resource concerns are addressed as part of Florida’s program implementation.

OMB Approves Interim Disposal Guidance for PFAS

The FY2020 NDAA directed EPA to develop comprehensive guidance on feasible technologies and methods for disposal of PFAS, while accounting for potential volatilization, leaching, or dispersion. The guidance is expected to be published imminently by EPA, per the FY2020 NDAA’s December 20, 2020 deadline. The guidance comes as recent research and development efforts in the public and private sectors have evaluated the cost-effectiveness and externalities associated with current disposal methods, as well as research on potential new methods that overcome the significant challenges associated with PFAS disposal. EPA sent the draft guidance to OMB for interagency review in July, 2020.

EPA Releases Draft Compliance Guide for Imported Articles Containing Surface Coatings Subject to the Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Carboxylate and Perfluoroalkyl Sulfonate Chemical Substances Significant New Use Rule

EPA is announcing the availability of and soliciting public comment on the draft compliance guide for the significant new uses EPA identified under TSCA section 5(a), 15 U.S.C. 2604(a), for the import of articles with certain long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylate (LCPFAC) chemicals as part of the surface coating, as established by EPA’s final rule “Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Carboxylate and Perfluoroalkyl Sulfonate Chemical Substances; Significant New Use Rule” (85 FR 45109, July 27, 2020). Specifically, the draft compliance guide provides additional clarity on what is meant by a “surface coating,” identifies which entities are regulated, describes the activities that are required or prohibited, and summarizes the notification requirements of the final significant new use rule (SNUR). Find more information here.

EPA Offers Integrated Planning Technical Assistance

EPA has partnered with the Environmental Finance Centers at the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina to help municipalities and states with integrated planning efforts. State permitting authorities can also receive assistance with reviewing integrated plans and the Environmental Finance Centers can evaluate affordability and review implementation schedules. The assistance is available from December 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021 and is open to municipalities and states permitting agencies. For assistance, please contact Evan Kirk at emkirk@sog.unc.edu or Ellen Kohler at ejkohler@umd.edu.

USGS Study: Pesticides and Their Degradation Products Common in Groundwater but at Low Concentrations Unlikely to be Human-Health Concern

Thousands of pesticides are used on crops and landscaping, are they also in our groundwater? According to a new USGS study, the first national assessment of pesticide degradates of this scope, the answer is a qualified yes—some pesticides and the chemical compounds they degrade to are common in groundwater used for public drinking-water supply, but mostly at concentrations well below levels of concern for human health. At least one pesticide or pesticide degradate was detected in just over 40% of samples of untreated groundwater collected from 1,204 wells that tap major drinking-water aquifers. These aquifers produce about 70% of the groundwater used for drinking in the U.S.

The study is the first to assess a large number of pesticide degradates—more than 100—in groundwater at the national level. The results reveal the prevalence of such degradates in groundwater. About 30% of the samples contained at least one pesticide degradate. The study also found that pesticide mixtures (that is, more than one pesticide) were present in about 25% of samples.

The pesticide concentrations measured are unlikely to be a potential human-health concern. To evaluate results for their potential relevance to human health, individual pesticide compounds were compared to their human-health benchmarks. For the many degradates without benchmarks, concentrations were compared to the benchmark for the “parent” pesticide. And for mixtures of pesticides, the ratio of each compound to its benchmark was computed and the results summed. Overall, pesticides—single or in a mixture—were found to be of potential concern for human health in 1.6% of wells, where potential concern was defined as a concentration exceeding one-tenth of the human-health benchmark (or 0.1 for mixtures). No pesticide exceeded its benchmark, and no sum of mixture ratios exceeded 1.0.

Data used in the study can be found here. For more information, contact Laura Bexfield.

Citation: Bexfield, L., Belitz, K., Lindsey, B.D., Toccalino, P.L., Nowell, L.H., 2020. Pesticides and pesticide degradates in groundwater used for public supply across the United States: Occurrence and human-health context. Environmental Science and Technology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05793

Analyze Trends: State Water Dashboard

EPA/OECA is upgrading the ECHO State Dashboards to improve the user experience and visualization of the data output. Thanks to all of you who reviewed and commented on the draft dashboard updates. Most of your comments have been incorporated in the beta version that was released December 16^th, on ECHO Gov. The Water Dashboard will be available to any government user here. Users must be logged into their ECHO Gov accounts to view the beta dashboard. On January 15th 2021, this dashboard will replace the current, public version. If you have any additional questions, comments, or concerns, please send them to Yourish.jesse@epa.gov as soon as possible so that they can be addressed. The purpose of the ECHO State Dashboards is to report to the public on summary-level compliance and enforcement activity and performance by EPA and State/Local partners. Benefits of the new version will include simplified operation and maintenance and easier ability to enhance and change content. Changes were made based on lessons learned and user feedback.

Association Updates

No Weekly Wrap Until 2021

Due to the upcoming holidays, there will not be a Weekly Wrap until January 8, 2021. Please enjoy your holiday season, and ACWA looks forward to resuming our work with you next year!

Draft EPA Memo: Applying Maui Decision NPDES & Groundwater

ACWA will be drafting a comment letter requesting that EPA work more closely with states as they finalize guidance/rulemaking, requesting that EPA work with states to develop examples that help better communicate to the public and define the criteria/factors as communicated by the Supreme Court, and requesting that EPA acknowledge flexibility is needed as states have several different programs and authorities that may already cover ground water to surface water risks.  If you would like to see ACWA offer other comments, please send your thoughts to Sean Rolland at srolland@acwa-us.org no later than Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Criminal Negligence Standard for State Clean Water Act 402 and 404 Programs

ACWA will be drafting a short letter of support for this rule. A copy of the prepublication version of the rule can be found here. Please contact Sean Rolland at srolland@acwa-us.org if your state/interstate opposes this position.

New ACWA Compliance Assurance and Data Systems Workgroup

The Compliance Assurance and Data Systems Workgroup (CADSW) is a new workgroup under the Permitting & Compliance Committee that will focus on compliance and enforcement initiatives including the SNC National Compliance Initiative, NPDES eReporting Rule implementation, the new NPDES Noncompliance Report, Compliance Monitoring Strategies, violation tracking/scoring, SNC for Minors, ECHO Reports and Dashboards, and the State Review Framework. This workgroup will also assist EPA with identifying and prioritizing work associated with ICIS-NPDES data system enhancements/updates. If you or someone on your staff would be interested in joining this workgroup or offering up your services as one of two Co-Chairs, please contact Sean Rolland.

ACWA Survey: Small Communities, Lagoons, and WQBELs Data Availability

As many of you are aware, small community based systems have enormous challenges meeting ammonia water quality based effluent limits – an immediate challenge – let alone current and future nutrient WQBELs. In fact, studies show that facultative lagoon based systems, even when fully optimized, will likely only ever be able to reach effluent concentrations of  10 mg/l (total nitrogen) and 2 mg/L (total phosphorus) respectively. Currently, without a significant investment of money, there is no simple, inexpensive, technological solution that can be integrated into treatment systems that would get the nitrogen and phosphorus reductions needed to meet WQBELs. For most systems, these facilities would need to spend far more money per capita than is likely viewed by rate payers as reasonable. And many would say the human health and environmental benefits might not be worth the enormous price tag of such expenditures.

ACWA would like to have a better understanding of the size of this universe based on population served and treatment technology being utilized. To that end, we have developed this survey, which will also help us better understand the types of data states have available. Thank you for your time filling this survey out – we believe it will help tremendously with future conversations.

Meetings and Webinars

EPA Virtual Roundtable: EPA’s Integrated Planning Virtual Roundtable on January 13, 2021

Date: January 13, 2021 | 11:30 AM-2:30 PM Eastern Time

Registration for States/EPA: Click here

This January, EPA will be hosting a virtual roundtable on Integrated Planning with state permitting authorities to give an update on EPA’s Integrated Planning efforts, explain technical assistance opportunities, and provide an opportunity for peer-to-peer exchange among states and EPA. The agenda for the roundtable includes the following:

• Update from EPA
• State experiences with incorporating a municipality’s integrated stormwater and wastewater plan in NPDES permits:
  • Shelly Shores-Miller from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment
  • Michael Abbott from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
  • Adam Eller from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
• Small-group breakout sessions to answer questions and discuss ideas for making it easier to review and incorporate integrated plan elements in NPDES permits or other Clean Water Act obligations

NPDES eRule Webinar

Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 | 2:30-4:30 PM Eastern Time

Registration: Click here

The U.S. EPA Office of Compliance invites you to participate in an important webinar regarding the status of implementation of the “NPDES eRule” and EPA’s plans for working with NPDES States in the months and years ahead. EPA Regional and state NPDES permitting, enforcement, and information technology staff are encouraged to attend and participate in this webinar. We are reserving 30 minutes of this meeting for your questions and comments.

This webinar will provide an overview of recent changes to the NPDES eRule that will help ensure a smoother transition from paper to electronic reporting for the NPDES program. In particular, EPA issued a final rule in early November postponing the compliance deadline for Phase 2 implementation of NPDES eRule by five years and providing states with additional flexibility to request even more time as needed. See 85 Fed. Reg. 69,189 (Nov. 2, 2020).  The final rule also makes changes to the NPDES eRule to clarify existing requirements and eliminate some duplicative or outdated reporting requirements.

This webinar will also provide updates on the following topics:

• Tracking Implementation of the NPDES eRule
• Overview of EPA support for NPDES eRule implementation
• Update on EPA tool development for NPDES eRule implementation
• Update on NPDES Noncompliance Report development
• Update on a new draft data mapping template for Phase 2 data
• Plans for ICIS modernization and how it could affect NPDES eRule Phase 2 implementation

This webinar will help states better understand EPA’s current overall approach and schedule for implementing Phase 2. EPA encourages all states to attend. If, however, you cannot attend, a recording and transcript of the webinar and questions and answers will be available afterwards.

Montana Storm Water Conference

Date: May 3 – 5, 2021

Location: Missoula, MT

Submit an Abstract! Topics range from stream and watershed health to climate change and resilience. This conference is about you and how you improve storm water systems – share what works (or doesn’t work).

• Stream and Watershed Health (can include stream restoration and monitoring)
• BMPs, GI, and LID
• Climate Change and Resilience
• Community Planning/Outreach (can include, but not limited to, taking a holistic approach to community planning (zoning, etc.); community involvement/outreach; and public/private partnerships.)
• Tools for Program Implementation (stories of successes and/or challenges as well as resources and technologies)
• Watershed Management and Regulatory Framework Updates
• Contractor Training
• Research
• Other

Abstracts can be submitted here:
Call for Abstracts – MT Storm Water Conference 

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Sustain Our Great Lakes 2021 Funding Opportunity Webinar and Workshop

Webinar Date: January 13, 2021 | 11:00AM Eastern Time

Virtual Workshop Date: February 2, 2021 | 11:00AM Eastern Time

Registration: Click here

Please join us for a webinar on January 13, 2021 and a virtual workshop on February 2, 2021 to learn about the grant funding opportunity.

In early January, 2021 Sustain Our Great Lakes will solicit applications for funding to restore and enhance habitat in the Great Lakes basin. The Request for Proposals will be available here. In 2021, grant funding will be awarded in six categories:

• Restore and Enhance Stream and Riparian Habitat
• Restore and Enhance Coastal Habitats
• Expand Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Great Lakes Communities
• Maintain and Enhance Benefits of Habitat Restoration through Invasive Species Control
• Restore and Preserve Natural Areas and Biodiversity in Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan Watershed
• New in 2021: Accelerate Implementation of Conservation Practices and Regenerative Agriculture on Working Lands

Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and state, tribal and local governments. Pre-proposals will be due February 16, 2021.

SOGL 2021 Funding Opportunity – Guidance for Applicants

This webinar will provide additional information on the current funding opportunity, provide additional guidance on the application process, and provide answers to participant questions.

Job Opportunities

Environmental Engineer V – Senior Wetlands Analyst | Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Location: Boston, MA

Closing Date: Open until filled

MassDEP Wetlands and Waterways Division is seeking applicants for the position of Senior Wetlands Analyst (EEIV) within the Bureau of Water Resources. With supervision from the Wetlands Program Chief, the person will have responsibilities in three main areas.

• Policy/regulatory/guidance – develops and manages select Wetlands Program initiatives including policy and regulatory updates and technical guidance, in coordination with MassDEP Boston and regional staff, other agencies, interested parties, and the public.
• Technical expert – serves as a hydraulic and hydrologic technical expert on issues pertaining to wetlands resource areas.
• Project review and permitting – serves as senior project manager for major projects under the Wetlands Protection Act (310 CMR 10.00) and Water Quality Certification (314 CMR 9.00) regulations, many of which require regulatory Variances. The major project portfolio includes transportation system improvements including railways, airports, and multi-use trails; utilities maintenance and improvements (e.g. electric, natural gas); and other statewide infrastructure projects, with the exception of MassDOT highways.

For more information on the position and how to apply, click here.

Environmental Analyst IV | Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Location: Boston, MA

Closing Date: Open until filled

MassDEP Wetlands and Waterways Division is seeking applicants for the position of Wetlands – 401Water Quality Certification Analyst (EAIV) within the Bureau of Water Resources. The Analyst will be responsible for project review, permitting, and compliance under the state Water Quality Certification (401WQC) and Wetlands Protection regulations.

The Analyst’s portfolio will focus mainly on projects involving dredging pursuant to 314 CMR 9.00. Primary duties include reviewing 401WQC applications; consulting with applicants, other agencies, and stakeholders; coordinating with DEP Chapter 91 Program on joint applications, preparing WQCs for internal review and signature prior to issuance; investigating violations of WQC regulations and conditions; and supporting enforcement action to resolve violations.

For more information on the position and how to apply, click here.

Unit Manager – Surface Water | Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Closing Date: Open until filled

As ADEQ’s Surface Water Monitoring Unit Manager, you will work with fellow Unit Managers and the Value Stream manager to ensure unit operations are efficient and effective. Unit operations include: 1) Developing and executing sampling plans, standard operating procedures, and quality assurance plans to conduct statewide water quality sampling on lakes, streams and rivers; 2) Completing and submitting Clean Water Act documents, reports, metrics, including review of, creating and updating surface water quality standards; 3) Water quality data entry, analysis and project management, and associated reports to be submitted to the EPA, including statewide assessments of Arizona waters; 4) Creating and maintaining GIS products for Clean Water Act regulatory purposes, including updating flow regime maps and analysis of data.

For more information on the position and how to apply, click here.