NOTICE OF REOPENING OF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR APC&EC REGULATIONS 5 AND 6
At its meeting on October 25, 2019, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission voted to reopen the public comment for APC&EC Regulation 5—the Commission’s Liquid Animal Waste Management Rule—and APC&EC Regulation 6—the Commission’s State Administration of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Rule—in order to receive comments on the proposed amendments to both regulations. The deadline for submitting written comments on the proposed amendments to Regulation 5 and Regulation 6 is 4:30 p.m. (CST) January 22, 2020. APC&EC authority for proposed amendments to Regulation 5 and 6 can be found in Arkansas Code Annotated §§ 8-6-207(b) (1) and 8-4-202(a).
Read BRWA preliminary comments here
Proposed revisions to Regulation 6 include adoption of federal revisions to the NPDES program, including sufficiently sensitive test methods, cooling water intake structure requirements, steam electric power generating, and reporting requirements; incorporations of statutory changes passed by the Arkansas General Assembly, amending the Trust Fund permitting requirements, changing Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to Division of Environmental Quality, changing the title of regulations to rules; revising to make permanent the moratorium of confined animal operations of a certain size in the Buffalo National River Watershed; several minor corrections to make the regulation more illustrative of the legislative and regulatory intent; and a variety of non-substantive and minor stylistic changes in the interest of clarity and consistency.
Proposed revisions to Regulation 5 include changing the title of regulation to rule; changing Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to Division of Environmental Quality; revising to make permanent the moratorium of confined animal operations of a certain size in the Buffalo National River Watershed; and making non-substantive and minor stylistic changes in the interest of clarity and consistency.
A complete listing of the proposed changes to Regulation 6 can be found on the Draft Regulations page of the DEQ’s website: https://www.adeq.state.ar.us/regs/draft_regs.aspx under APC&EC Docket #19-003-R. A complete listing of the proposed changes to Regulation 5 can be found on the Draft Regulations page of the website:https://www.adeq.state.ar.us/regs/drafts/reg05/19-002-R/ under APC&EC Docket #19-002-R.
Copies of the proposed changes to Regulation 6 and Regulation 5 are available for public inspection during regular business hours at the DEQ headquarters building, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118, or at DEQ information depositories located at public libraries in Arkadelphia, Batesville, Blytheville, Camden, Clinton, Crossett, El Dorado, Fayetteville, Forrest City, Fort Smith, Harrison, Helena, Hope, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Magnolia, Mena, Monticello, Mountain Home, Pocahontas, Russellville, Searcy, Stuttgart, Texarkana, and West Memphis; and at campus libraries at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the University of Central Arkansas at Conway.
Written comments should be delivered or mailed to: Jacob Harper, Department of Energy and Environment, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118. Electronic comments should be submitted at http://water.adeq.commentinput.com/?id=6pAef.
Published this November 3, 2019.
Becky W. Keogh, Director, Division of Environmental Quality