Regulations, Technical Guidance & Permits

The Environmental Quality Board published notice of proposed changes to Chapter 121 & 129 Air Quality regulations related to additional RACT requirements for major sources of NOx and VOCs for public comment.  Three public hearings have been scheduled.

Pennsylvania Bulletin - April 19, 2012

Proposed Regulations Open For Comment - DEP webpage

Proposed Regulations With Closed Comment Periods - DEP webpage

DEP Regulatory Agenda - DEP webpage

Technical Guidance & Permits

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice of its final Policy for Consideration of Community Environmental Projects in the April 19 PA Bulletin.

DEP also published notice of the final assessment and listing methodology for determining when waters are impaired under Sections 303(d) and 305(d) of the federal Clean Water Act and required for Pennsylvania’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report

The 2013 Assessment Methods includes the following documents: Instream Comprehensive Evaluations; Limestone Streams; Multi-Habitat Pool/Glide Streams; Riffle/Run Freestone Streams; Continuous Instream Monitoring; Periphyton; Streambed Sediment; Surface Water Collection; Semi-Quantitative Fish Sampling Protocol; Lake Assessment Protocol; Aquatic Macrophyte Cover; Lake Fisheries; Evaluations of Phosphorus Discharges to Lakes, Ponds and Impoundments; Plankton Sampling; Chlorophyll A Sampling; Chemistry—Bacteriological Evaluations; Fish Tissue Sampling; Natural Pollutant Sources; Outside Agency Data; Appendix A—Sources and Cause Definitions; Appendix B—Taxa Tolerances; Appendix C—Biological Field Methods; Appendix C1—Habitat; Appendix C2—Benthic Macroinvertebrates; Appendix C3—Fish; and Appendix C4—Taxonomic Reference. 

These documents will be posted on DEP’s Water Quality Standards webpage.

The Public Utility Commission published notice of a final statement of policy on utility service outage response, recovery and public notification.

Final DEP ID: 012-4180-001. Title: Policy for the Consideration of Community Environmental Projects in Conjunction with Assessment of Civil Penalty. Description: The Department staff will consider the performance of a Community Environmental Project (CEP), in appropriate situations, in lieu of a portion of the amount of civil penalty it will accept as a settlement. The Department may, in determining the amount of civil penalty to collect, consider projects that have substantial public health or environmental benefits. The Department may consider CEPs in situations it decides are appropriate, as an exercise of its enforcement discretion. Additional consideration may be given to CEPs proposed in areas that are susceptible to disproportionate environmental impacts and projects that will benefit conditions in an environmental justice area. The Department sought input from the Citizens Advisory Council and the Environmental Justice Advisory Board in the development of this policy. Where possible, those comments were included in the version that was shared with the public for comment. Due to the early involvement of both advisory groups prior to public comment, neither had additional comments on the version published for public comment. This revised guidance was published as draft at 43 Pa.B. 6450 (October 26, 2013), for a 30-day public comment period. Comments were received from two commentators. Subsequent to publication, the Department completed minor edits in response to the public comments. Revisions to the draft technical guidance document resulting from the public comments are described in the accompanying Comment-Response Document.  Contact: Questions regarding this action should be directed to Laura Henry at 717-705-3769 or send email to: lahenry@pa.gov.

Technical Guidance Comment Deadlines - DEP webpage

Recently Closed Comment Periods For Technical Guidance - DEP webpage

Technical Guidance Recently Finalized - DEP webpage

Copies of Final Technical Guidance - DEP webpage

Visit DEP’s new Public Participation Center for information on how you can Be Informed! and Get Involved! in DEP regulation and guidance development process.

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4/21/2014

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