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Steele County, Minnesota (XLC)Project XLC Logo

The Steele County Project Sponsors, a group of private sector facilities in Owatonna and Blooming Prairie, MN have proposed a community-wide project consisting of a two-phase approach to attain Environmental Excellence and Leadership. 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 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 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) website in lieu of being published in the local newspaper. Phase I 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 on 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.


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