State Innovation Grant
Program
Wyoming:
Watershed-based NPDES Permitting for the
Powder River Basin
The EPA State Innovation Grant Program was established in 2002 to help strengthen EPA's innovation partnerships
with States and Tribes and is a direct result of the Agency's innovation strategy, Innovating for Better Environmental
Results: A Strategy to Guide the Next Generation of Innovation at EPA (http://www.epa.gov/innovation/strategy).
To support the Innovation Strategy, the 2002 grant program focused its efforts on projects that related to one of
four priority issues: reducing greenhouse gases, reducing smog, improving water quality, and reducing the cost
of drinking water or wastewater infrastructure. In addition, EPA sought projects that test incentives that motivate
"beyond-compliance" environmental performance, or move whole sectors toward improved environmental
performance. This series of fact sheets features the State projects selected for funding under the Grant Program.
Contacts:
Dan Hengel
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality,
Herschler Building, 4th Floor West, 122 West 25*
Street, Cheyenne , WY 82002,
dhenge@state.wy.us
Whitney Trulove-Cranor
US EPA Region 8; Denver, CO, trulove-
cranor.whitney@epa.gov
Amanda Bassow
US EPA National Center for Environmental
Innovation, Washington, DC, 202-566-2240,
bassow.amanda@epa.gov
Background
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Water
Quality Division (WDEQ/WQD) issues individual National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for
discharges into the Powder River Basin (PRB) in northeastern
Wyoming for a variety of industrial and municipal point sources.
The industrial point sources range from coal mining to oil and gas
treaters to coal bed methane development. In an area the size of
the PRB, approximately 9000 square miles in Wyoming, the
potential impacts to water quality from industrial point source
discharges is significant. The WDEQ/WQD, with stakeholder
involvement, has therefore decided to streamline and strengthen
the NPDES permitting process for the Powder River Basin.
NCEI
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION
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Project Description
WDEQ/WQD proposes to implement a watershed-
based NPDES permitting approach for the Powder
River Basin within Wyoming. The primary goals of
the strategy are the consideration of cumulative
impacts to water quality over an entire watershed and
development of an efficient permitting methodology.
Secondary goals include developing a template for
watershed-based NPDES permitting that will be
transferable to other watersheds in Wyoming and
potentially to other states with similar permitting issues
and watersheds. Ultimately, implementation of a
watershed-based NPDES permitting process for
northeast Wyoming should streamline the NPDES
permit application sequence and strengthen the
NPDES regulatory mechanism to maintain compliance
with established water quality standards.
The watershed-based permitting project is designed first
to achieve and demonstrate results in the short-term
(1 year), and then to transfer the project methodology
to other watersheds and other States. An example of a
potential benefit from the implementation of a
watershed-based permitting approach for the Powder
River Basin would involve the coalbed methane (CBM)
industry. WDEQ/WQD anticipates a dramatic
increase in NPDES permit applications for CBM
effluent discharges in the next decade. A watershed-
based permitting approach, relative to CBM
development, may allow for an overall reduction in
CBM constituent loading to the Powder River through
a "reallocation" program at the sub-watershed level
(e.g. higher quality CBM effluent discharged at a higher
rate into LX Bar Creek to compensate for lower quality
CBM effluent discharged at a lower rate into Pumpkin
Creek).
Benefits of the Project
The implementation of a watershed-based NPDES
permitting process for northeast Wyoming will
streamline the NPDES permit application sequence
and strengthen the WDEQ/WQD regulatory
mechanism to maintain compliance with established
water quality standards. The watershed-based
permitting approach aims to improve WDEQ/WQD
administrative efficiency (reduction in time needed to
review permit applications), increase public
involvement opportunities (better informed
stakeholders), and potentially reduce permit applicants'
costs (potentially fewer permit applications).
The watershed-based approach differs from the current
permitting method by looking at a cumulative
assessment of the potential impacts to water quality
in the basin. The watershed-based approach builds on
lessons learned from the overwhelming number of
NPDES permit applications received by WDEQ/
WQD involving CBM in the late 1990s. Implementing
a watershed-based permitting approach will result in
measurable improvements in water quality for the
Powder River Basin. Improvements in administrative
efficiency will include quicker turn-around time from
receipt of permit application to submission for public
notice and reduced operational costs since fewer
personnel hours would be required per permit
application. Costs for the permit applicants will be
lower because there will be fewer required permits per
watershed resulting in reduced in expenses for permit
application development.
Project Plan
This is a 12 month project.
United States
Environmental Protection
Age ncy
Oftice of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
January 2005
EPA-100-F-05-009
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