~ECEIVEL~

CLERI’S CW~’F

JAN 13 2003

Pre-filed Testimony

STATE OF ILLINOIS

Beth Wentzel, Watershed Scientist, Prairie Rivers Network

Pollution Control Board

My name is Beth Wentzel, and I am the Watershed Scientist forPraine Rivers Network,

a statewide river conservation organization and National Wildlife Federation’s Illinois

affiliate.

PrairieRivers Networksupports the proposed changes to the existing regulations. It is

the intent ofthe Clean Water Act that the public has full and fair opportunity to

participate in the NPDES permitting process. The public should be allowed to

~understandthe basis for and comment on all terms and conditions ofthe permits. For this

to occur, the changes and clarifications to the regulations that are-proposed should be

adopted to ensure that the public always fully understands how to participate, information

demonstrating that the permits satisfy all federal and state laws must alwaysbe available

to the public as part ofthe record, and all terms and conditions ofthe permit, including

monitoring requirements, must be available to the public for comment prior to issuance of

the permit.

The existing law requires that a permit may not be issued that allows a discharge to cause

orcontribute to water quality standards violations. Therefore permit writers must

currently conduct appropriate analyses to determinethat permit conditions satisfy-this

requirement. It is necessary to conduct all suchanalyses prior to releasing the draft

permit forpublic comment, and it is only fair that such analyses be made available to

interested members ofthe public. Public participation is not meaningful ifpeople are

allowed to see only the terms.of the permit without access to the derivation ofthose terms

and assurance that those terms protect the waters oftheir communities. Therefore, we

emphasize oursupport forthe proposal to require that all informationjustifying permit

terms and conditions be incorporated into the record.

In the case that information is not available to justify all terms and conditions ofthe

permit at the time ofthe first draft, the permit should not be finalized until such

information is available, and the permit should be re-noticed prior to issuance in order

that the public has the opportunity to examine and comment on additional information

and modified terms. Fair participation requires that the public have the opportunity to

raise concerns to the IEPA regarding every termofthe permit.

This opportunity for public participation should be required for all terms and conditions,

including discharge monitoring requirements. Becausedischarge monitoring is the mOst

effective, and in many cases the only, means ofdeterminingcompliance with effluent

limitations, the monitoring regime is an extremely important condition ofpermits.

-

To

ensure that no permit is finalized without this critical element ofthe permit fully

described, we feel that the proposed changes to section309.146 are very necessary.

Finally, while many ofthe regulatory changes proposed would not cause a change in

agencypractice formost permits, it is appropriate that these requirements be formalized

by incorporation in the regulations rather than left to the discretion ofagency staff:

I

---

Public

participation in the NPDES process is too important to be subject to unnecessary

or inappropriate limitation. Prairie Rivers Network urges the Pollution Control Board to

adopt these changes to ensure that the public will always have full and fair opportunity to

participate in this process.

-

2