ENERGY FACILITY SITE

EVALUATION COUNCIL

The application for site certification shall include:

(1) A completed joint aquatic resource permit application (JARPA) for any proposed activities that would require the issuance of a water quality certification under section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or would otherwise require the issuance of a hydraulic permit approval;

(2) A notice of intent to be covered under a statewide general permit for sand and gravel issued by ecology; and

(3) A notice of intent to be covered under other permits that are otherwise issued by state agencies.

(1) This chapter establishes regulations specifying procedures and other rules which will be utilized by the council in implementing section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

(2) The purpose of these regulations is to establish a state ((individual)) permit program, applicable to the discharge of pollutants and other wastes and materials to the surface waters of the state, which complies with the requirements of chapters 80.50 and 90.48 RCW, EPA, and applicable state laws and regulations through the issuance of individual permits or coverage under storm water general permits issued by the department of ecology.

(3) These regulations apply to:

(a) Any energy facility for which a certification agreement has been executed pursuant to chapter 80.50 RCW et seq.; and

(b) Any energy facility for which an application has been filed with the council for certification pursuant to chapter 80.50 RCW et seq.

(4) The authority for these regulations is based upon RCW 80.50.040(1), chapter 90.48 RCW, chapter 155, Laws of 1973, and the act.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated below:

(1) "Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) as amended, (33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.).

(2) "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(3) "Applicable water quality standards" means all water quality standards of the state of Washington to which a discharge is subject under state and federal law((,)) including, but not limited to, those which are codified in chapters 173-200, 173-201A, and 173-204 WAC, and 40 C.F.R. 131.36.

(4) "Applicant" shall mean any person who has applied for an NPDES permit pursuant to this chapter.

(5) "Certification agreement" means that binding site certification agreement executed between an applicant under chapter 80.50 RCW and the state, and shall contain the conditions set forth in the NPDES permit to be met prior to or concurrent with the construction or operation of any energy facility coming under chapter 80.50 RCW.

(6) "Chair" means the chairman of the energy facility site evaluation council.

(7) "Contiguous zone" means the entire zone established or to be established by the United States under Article 24 of the Convention of the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.

(8) "Council" means the Washington state energy facility site evaluation council.

(9) "Council manager" means the individual holding the position of manager of the council.

(10) "Discharge of pollutant" and the term "discharge of pollutants" each mean:

(a) Any addition of any pollutant or combination of pollutants to surface waters of the state from any point source;

(b) Any addition of any pollutant or combination of pollutants to the waters of the contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source.

(11) "Domestic wastewater" means water carrying human wastes, including kitchen, bath, and laundry wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places, together with such groundwater infiltration or surface waters as may be present.

(12) "Domestic wastewater facility" means all structures, equipment, or processes required to collect, carry away, treat, reclaim, or dispose of domestic wastewater together with such industrial waste as may be present. In case of subsurface sewage treatment and disposal, the term is restricted to mean those facilities treating and disposing of domestic wastewater only from a septic tank with subsurface sewage treatment and disposal and an ultimate design capacity exceeding fourteen thousand five hundred gallons per day at any common point.

(13) "Ecology" means the Washington state department of ecology.

(14) "Effluent limitations" means any restriction established by the state of Washington or the administrator on quantities, rates and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into surface waters, the waters of the state, including schedules of compliance.

(15) "Energy facility" means any energy facility, as defined in RCW 80.50.014.

(16) "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(17) "General permit" means a permit which covers multiple dischargers within a designated geographical area, in lieu of individual permits being issued to each discharger.

(18) "Governor" means the governor of the state of Washington.

(19) "Municipality" means a city, town, county, district, association, or other public body created by or pursuant to state law and having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes, or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA).

(20) "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)" means the national system for the issuance of permits under section 402 of the act and includes the Washington state program (set forth in chapter 151, Laws of 1973) for participation in said system which has been approved by the administrator in whole pursuant to section 402 of the act.

(21) "New source" means any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be the discharge of pollutants, the construction of which is commenced:

(a) After promulgation of standards of performance under section 306 of the act which are applicable to such sources; or

(b) After proposal of standards of performance in accordance with section 306 of the act which are applicable to such source, but only if the standards are promulgated in accordance with section 306 within one hundred twenty days of their proposal.

(22) "NPDES application" means the uniform national forms for application for a NPDES permit (including subsequent additions, revisions or modifications duly promulgated by the administrator pursuant to the act) as prescribed by the council for use in the Washington state NPDES program.

(23) "NPDES form" means any issued NPDES permit, the NPDES application and the NPDES reporting form, and any uniform national form developed for use in the NPDES program as prescribed in regulations promulgated by the administrator.

(24) "NPDES permit" means the permit incorporated in the certification agreement issued by the council which regulates the discharge of pollutants pursuant to section 402 of the act.

(25) "NPDES program" means that program of the state of Washington pursuant to section 402 of the act.

(26) "NPDES reporting form" or "discharge monitoring report" means the uniform national forms (including subsequent additions, revisions or modifications duly promulgated by the administrator pursuant to the act) for reporting data and information pursuant to monitoring and other conditions of NPDES permits.

(27) "Permit" means an authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the council to implement this chapter. "Permit" includes issuance of coverage under a storm water general permit issued by the department of ecology. "Permit" does not include any permit which has not yet been the subject of final council action, such as a "draft permit" or a "proposed permit."

(28) "Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, state, municipality, commission, or political subdivision of a state, local, state, or federal government agency, industry, firm, individual or any other entity whatsoever.

(29) "Point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collection system, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural storm water runoff.

(30) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. This term does not mean:

(a) Sewage from vessels within the meaning of section 312 of the act; or

(b) Water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil or gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes is approved by authority of the state in which the well is located, and if such state determines that such injection or disposal will not result in the degradation of ground or surface water resources.

(31) "Regional administrator" means the EPA's region X administrator.

(32) "State" means any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(33) "Storm water discharge associated with industrial activity" means the discharge from any conveyance that is used for collecting and conveying storm water and that is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial facility. For energy facilities, the term includes, but is not limited to, storm water discharges from industrial facility yards; immediate access roads and rail lines used or traveled by carriers of raw materials, manufactured products, waste material, or by-products used or created by the facility; material handling sites; refuse sites; sites used for the application or disposal of process waste waters (as defined in 40 C.F.R. 401); sites used for the storage and maintenance of material handling equipment; sites used for residual treatment, storage, or disposal; shipping and receiving areas; manufacturing buildings; storage areas (including tank farms) for raw materials, and intermediate and final products; and areas where industrial activity has taken place in the past and significant materials remain and are exposed to storm water. For the purposes of this subsection, material handling activities include storage, loading and unloading, transportation, or conveyance of any raw material, intermediate product, final product, by-product or waste product. The term excludes areas located on facility lands separate from the facility's industrial activities, such as office buildings and accompanying parking lots as long as the drainage from the excluded areas is not mixed with storm water drained from the above described areas. The following additional categories of facilities are considered to be engaging in "industrial activity":

(a) Facilities subject to storm water effluent limitations guidelines, new source performance standards, or toxic pollutant effluent standards under 40 C.F.R. subchapter N;

(b) Facilities where construction activity includes clearing, grading and excavation, except operations that result in the disturbance of less than five acres of total land area. Construction activity also includes the disturbance of less than five acres of total land area that is a part of a larger common plan of development or sale if the larger common plan will ultimately disturb five acres or more.

(34) "Surface waters of the state" means all waters defined as "waters of the United States" in 40 C.F.R. 122.2 that are within the boundaries of the state of Washington. This includes lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland waters, wetlands, ocean, bays, estuaries, sounds, and inlets.

(35) In the absence of other definitions as set forth herein, the definitions as set forth in 40 C.F.R. 122.2 and 122.26(b) shall be used.

No waste materials or pollutants may be discharged from any energy facility as defined in WAC 463-76-010 into surface waters of the state, except as authorized pursuant to this chapter or as authorized by the council pursuant to its authority under chapter 80.50 RCW for coverage under a general permit ((promulgated)) issued by the department of ecology. In administering this chapter, the council will seek maximum coordination and avoid duplication between the council and the department of ecology pursuant to RCW 90.48.262(2).