Steele County, Minnesota (XLC)

Federal Register Notice, Public Comment Period Closes January 28, 2000

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Federal Register Document

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[Federal Register: December 29, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 249)]
[Notices]
[Page 73047]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29de99-103]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6516-8]

Regulatory Reinvention (XLC) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of Steele County Project XL for Communities (XLC) Draft Final Project Agreement.

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SUMMARY: EPA is today requesting comments on a draft Project XLC Final Project Agreement (FPA) for Steele County, MN. The FPA is a voluntary agreement developed by the Steele County Community Sponsors, the Cities of Owatonna and Blooming Prairie, MN, project stakeholders, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), and EPA.

DATES: The period for submission of comments ends on January 28, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments on the draft Final Project Agreement should be sent to: Abeer Hashem, Water Division, WC-15J, US EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3507, or Kristina Heinemann, U.S. EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Room 445WT (1802), Washington, DC 20460. Comments may also be faxed to Ms. Hashem at (312) 886-0168 or Ms. Heinemann at (202) 260-7875. Comments will also be received via electronic mail sent to: hashem.abeer@epa.gov or heinemann.kristina@epa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain a copy of the draft Final Project Agreement, contact: Abeer Hashem, Water Division, WC-15J, U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3507, or Kristina Heinemann, U.S. EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Room 445WT (1802), Washington, DC 20460. The documents are also available via the Internet at the following location: ``https://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''. In addition, public files on the Project are located at EPA Region 5 in Chicago, IL. Questions to EPA regarding the documents can be directed to Abeer Hashem at (312) 886-1331 or Kristina Heinemann at (202) 260- 5355. Additional information on Project XL and XLC, including documents referenced in this notice, other EPA policy documents related to Project XL and XLC, application information, and descriptions of existing XL and XLC projects and proposals, is available via the Internet at ``https://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Project XLC, announced in the Federal Register on November 1, 1995 (60 FR 55569), gives regulated sources the flexibility to develop alternative strategies that will replace or modify specific regulatory requirements on the condition that they produce greater environmental benefits.

If implemented, the draft FPA would carry out the first phase of a community-wide project consisting of a two-phase approach to attain Environmental Excellence and Leadership. This draft FPA states the intentions of the parties to implement Phase I of the Steele County, MN Community XL Project Pilot.

Phase I would specifically address industrial regulated wastewater effluent reductions, and at the same time concentrate on significant water use reduction controls. Phase II would expand to a multi-media approach to environmental permitting. It would be based on overall community performance, rather than individual member performance, in the areas of air emissions, solid waste, hazardous waste, chemical storage, and community sustainability.

In Phase I, direct participants from the Steele County community have agreed jointly to four Superior Environmental Performance (SEP) approaches. The Owatonna, MN Sponsors have committed to: (1) Reduce the discharge of four priority metals; (2) reduce water usage; (3) develop and implement a storm water and sewer water separation and education plan in an effort to minimize the impact of storm water on the Owatonna wastewater treatment facility; and (4) develop and participate in a training and assessment program to better understand potential benefits of an ISO 14000 Environmental Management System (EMS). The Blooming Prairie, MN Sponsor has agreed to: (1) Reduce the discharge of three priority effluents; and (2) reduce water usage.

Phase I of this agreement would also provide regulatory flexibility to the Owatonna Sponsors in the following areas: (1) An incentive-based monitoring approach, such that as metal discharge goals are met, the frequency of monitoring may be reduced; (2) a mass-based compliance standard would replace the concentration-based standard currently in place; (3) the elimination of pollutant monitoring where a pollutant is not discharged; (4) the development of an alternative Significant Non- Compliance (SNC) approach, under which qualifying violations may be posted on the MPCA website in lieu of being published in the local newspaper. Phase I of this agreement would provide regulatory flexibility to the Blooming Prairie Sponsor in two areas: (1) An incentive-based monitoring approach, such that as effluent discharge goals are met, the frequency of monitoring may be reduced; and (2) the elimination of pollutant monitoring where a pollutant is not discharged. Regulatory flexibility will rely on EPA to issue a federal site-specific rule (subject to public notice and consideration of public comment) and any corresponding State and City action needed for the project to proceed.

For Phase I current regulatory limits for participating facilities would remain in effect. The regulatory limits would be changed from concentration-based limits to mass-based limits. An exceedance of a mass-based limit could result in the use of traditional enforcement tools.

Dated: December 22, 1999.
Richard T. Farrell,
Associate Administrator, Office of Policy and Reinvention.
[FR Doc. 99-33775 Filed 12-28-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P

Steele County, Minnesota (XLC)

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