x>EPA
                      United States
                      Environmental Protection
                      Agency
   Office of Water  EPA - 800-F-13-002
                                                   4305T
                     February  2013
    EPA Withdraws  Federal Water Quality Criteria for
             New Jersey, Puerto Rico  and California
Summary
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is amending the federal water quality
standards regulations by taking two actions
which will enable New Jersey, Puerto Rico and
California to implement their state-adopted,
EPA-approved water quality criteria.

First, the Agency is withdrawing all remaining
federal human health and aquatic life water
quality criteria covered by the National Toxics
Rule and applicable to all waters in New Jersey
and Puerto Rico. Second, EPA is withdrawing
certain federal aquatic life criteria covered by
the National Toxics Rule and the California
Toxics Rule and applicable to the San Francisco
Bay in California. These jurisdictions have
adopted EPA-approved state criteria and
therefore no longer need such federal criteria to
meet Clean Water Act requirements.

EPA proposed these changes in April 2012 and
sought public comment on its action with respect
to those state criteria that are less stringent than
the federally promulgated criteria. EPA received
little substantive comment on this action.

Background
In 1992, EPA issued the National Toxics Rule to
establish numeric water quality criteria for 12
states and two territories that had failed to
comply fully with the Clean Water Act. These
included New Jersey, Puerto Rico and parts of
California. The  criteria became the applicable
water quality standards in those 14 states and
territories, effective February 5, 1993.

In 2000, EPA issued the California Toxics Rule
in order to establish numeric water quality
criteria for priority toxic pollutants for the State
of California; the criteria were not previously in
the National Toxics Rule. At that time, any
criteria promulgated as part of the National
Toxics Rule for California were included in the
criteria tables for the California Toxics Rule.

State Primacy
The water quality standards program was
developed with an emphasis on state primacy.
Although EPA promulgated toxics criteria for
the certain states in the National Toxics Rule
and California Toxics Rule, the Agency prefers
that states maintain primacy, revise their own
standards, and achieve full compliance. As
described in the preambles to the final National
Toxics Rule and California Toxics Rule, when a
state adopts, and EPA approves, water quality
criteria that meet the requirements of the Clean
Water Act, the Agency issues a rule amending
the National Toxics Rule, and California Toxics
Rule, as applicable, to withdraw the federal
criteria for that state.

EPA has been coordinating closely with New
Jersey, Puerto Rico and California on issues
related to implementation of the Clean Water
Act and EPA regulations.

Federal Criteria Withdrawals
EPA is amending the federal regulations in the
National Toxics Rule to withdraw certain human
health and aquatic life criteria applicable in New
Jersey and Puerto Rico. For many pollutants, the
state-adopted, EPA- approved criteria are no less
stringent than the federally-issued criteria.

In addition, EPA is amending the federal
regulations in the National Toxics Rule and the
California Toxics Rule to withdraw certain
human health and aquatic life criteria applicable
in New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and California that
are less stringent than the federally-issued
criteria. Some of these criteria are the same as
EPA's most recent criteria recommendations
issued under the Clean Water Act, while others
are state-specific criteria calculated using EPA-
approved methods.

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The Agency provided an opportunity for public
comment in April 2012, when it published the
proposed withdrawal. EPA received letters
supporting the withdrawals from New Jersey
and California, and received very little other
substantive comment. The response to comment
document can be found at www.regulations.gov.
under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2012-0095.

About this Rulemaking
This rulemaking will have no economic impact,
since it does not establish any requirements
directly applicable to regulated entities.

For More Information
Contact Bryan "Ibrahim" Goodwin at
goodwin.bryani@,epa.gov or 202-566-0762.

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