U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                   Office of Inspector General

                   At  a  Glance
                                                           11-P-0221
                                                          May 9, 2011
                                                                Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review
The Office of Inspector
General received a Hotline
complaint alleging that the
State of North Carolina's
National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES)
permits do not protect waters
from harmful environmental
effects caused by thermal
discharges. We evaluated North
Carolina's and Region 4's
compliance with Clean Water
Act (CWA) requirements for
protecting surface waters from
thermal discharges.
Background
Power and industrial facilities
draw water from rivers and
lakes to cool equipment and
then discharge those cooling
waters at a higher temperature
back into those waterbodies.
Either a state  or the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) may issue a
variance under CWA Section
316(a) to allow facilities to
discharge cooling waters at an
alternative thermal effluent
limit that is still protective of
aquatic life.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs
and Management at
(202)566-2391.

The full report is at:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2011/
20110509-11-P-0221.pdf
 Oversight of North Carolina's Renewals of
 Thermal Variances
 What We Found
Region 4 has not adequately implemented management controls contained in its
memorandum of agreement with North Carolina. Properly implemented controls
would assure EPA that NPDES permits would comply with the CWA and
applicable federal regulations. In four of the six draft permits we reviewed,
Region 4 did not agree with the North Carolina Division of Water Quality that
there was sufficient information to support the draft permit limits for
temperature. Region 4 requested that the state add conditions to the final permits
so that information could be collected to determine whether the thermal limits
harm aquatic life. The two other draft permits we reviewed either did not
contain a thermal variance request, or the region never commented on the
thermal variance. We also found that the state limited the public's opportunity to
review information and comment on these variances by not following regulatory
requirements for developing complete permit fact sheets and public notices.

Due to procedural lapses by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality and
Region 4, it cannot be determined whether waters are protected from harmful
environmental effects caused by thermal discharges. The  state and Region 4 will
not make further determinations on the thermal variances until these facilities
request NPDES permit renewals. As a result, until 2015, these facilities will
continue discharging heated waters as allowed under their current permits and
thermal variances.
 What We Recommend
We recommend that the EPA Regional Administrator, Region 4, enforce the
management controls of the NPDES memorandum of agreement; verify that
thermal variances are protective of a balanced, indigenous population; and
verify that permit fact sheets and public notices comply with federal regulations.
The region agreed with our recommendations. We agree that their actions meet
the intent of the recommendations.

-------