United States Office of Water EPA-820-F-10-001
Environmental Protection Agency 4303T February 2010
7 Request for Comment on Questionnaire for Steam Electric
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Summary
EPA is requesting comment on a draft questionnaire for the steam electric power generating
industry. This is the second opportunity for public comment on this questionnaire, which EPA
revised to address comments received during the first Federal Register notice comment period,
which ended on December 28, 2009. The revised questionnaire is part of a proposed Information
Collection Request (ICR) that has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for
review and approval. Public comments will be accepted for 30 days upon publication in the
Federal Register.
Background
Under the Clean Water Act, EPA establishes national technology-based regulations, called
effluent guidelines, to reduce discharges of pollutants from industries to waters of the U.S. and
publicly owned treatment works. The Clean Water Act also requires EPA to periodically review
and revise, if appropriate, the effluent guidelines that have been established for an industry.
These requirements are incorporated into discharge permits issued by EPA and states.
The steam electric effluent guidelines apply to steam electric power plants using nuclear or fossil
fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. There are about 1,200 nuclear- and fossil-fueled steam
electric power plants nationwide. Approximately 500 of these power plants are coal-fired.
EPA's decision to proceed with a rulemaking was announced on September 15, 2009, and was
based largely on the findings from a multi-year study of wastewater discharges from power
plants. EPA reviewed wastewater discharges from power plants and the treatment technologies
available to reduce pollutant discharges, which demonstrated the need to update the current
effluent guidelines. The current regulations, which were last updated in 1982, do not adequately
address the pollutants being discharged and have not kept pace with changes that have occurred
in the electric power industry over the last three decades. Steam electric power plants are
responsible for a significant amount of the toxic pollutant loadings discharged to surface waters
by point sources, and coal ash ponds and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems are the source
of much of these pollutants. Further information regarding discharges from power plants can be
found in the report for EPA's study, Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category:
Final Detailed Study Report (EPA 821 -R-09-008)
(www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/steam/finalreport.pdf).
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About this Proposed Information Collection
EPA has submitted this proposed ICR to the Office of Management and Budget in compliance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). EPA has identified approximately
1,200 fossil- and nuclear-fueled steam electric power plants that are potentially within scope of
the data collection objectives of the ICR. To reduce burden on the industry, EPA intends to
distribute the questionnaire to a statistically-sampled subset of these facilities. EPA estimates that
this questionnaire will involve approximately 734 respondents. The questionnaire consists of
nine sections which have been tailored to address specific processes, specific data needs, or types
of power plants. Parts A and I of the questionnaire will be sent to all 734 respondents; the
remaining parts will be sent to discrete subpopulations of questionnaire recipients.
The questionnaire will collect general plant information and selected technical information about
the plant processes and the electric generating units. The information that will be collected
includes economic data and technical information about flue gas desulfurization (FGD)
wastewater, ash handling, cleaning of metal process equipment, wastewater treatment, surface
impoundment and landfill operations, and nuclear operations. The questionnaire will also require
certain power plants to collect and analyze samples of leachate from surface impoundments and
landfills containing coal combustion residues.
How to Get Additional Information
For further information regarding the draft questionnaires, please contact Ms. Jezebele Alicea-
Virella at alicea.iezebele(a),epa.gov or at (202) 566-1755. Written correspondence should be sent
to the following address: Ms. Jezebele Alicea-Virella, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(Mail Code 4303T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
The proposed questionnaire can be found at EPA's docket website at vvwvv.regulations.gov
where, in addition to reviewing the questionnaire, you may access the index listing the contents
of the docket and submit comments. The ID of the docket for the proposed ICR for the steam
electric power generating effluent limitations guidelines rulemaking is EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819.
The Federal Register notice and the questionnaire can also be found on the Internet at
www.epa.gov/guide/steam/.
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