Executive Director
Jean Flemma
Board of
Directors
Jon McNussen
President
Vula Grove
Charles Goodall
Treasurersideu
Brian AndersonRochester
Clark BullardUrban
Dan
ChicagoDeeb
Eric FreyfogleUrbarra
Carolyn GrosbollPetersburg
Bruce
ChampaignHannon
Jason
ChampaignLindsey
Ward McDonaldMahemet
Michael RosenthalGtencoe
Virginia
SpringfieldScott
809 South Fifth
Street
Champaign, IL
61820-6215
www.prairierivers .org
217-344-2371
Fax 217 .344-2381
Prairie Rivers Network
December 18, 2006
Sent via jar to Deputy Clerk John Therrlault at (312) 814-3669
R
ERKSEo"'ED
DEc
8 1
~t)gft
Aa utio
n Control
e a a
Deputy Clerk John Therriault
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R
. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Protecting Illinois' Streams
RE :
NPDES Permit No
. IL0000329, United States Steel Corporation, Granite
City Works
Dear Mr. Therriault :
I am providing these post-hearing comments on behalf of Prairie Rivers Network on
the NPDES permit and permitting process for permit #1L0000329 which was
discussed at a public hearing in Edwardsville, Illinois on Nov
. 20, 2006. Draft
NPDES permit #1L0000329 is for the United States Steel Corporation, Granite City
Works facility which discharges to Horseshoe Lake in Madison County
. I planned
on attending the hearing and testifying to the content of the following drafted
comments though was unable to due to an illness in my family
. I appreciate the
opportunity to submit the following concerns to be considered by the Pollution
Control Board and included in the public record
.
Prairie Rivers Network is the state
affiliate
of National Wildlife Federation, a non-
profit organization that strives to protect the rivers, streams and lakes of Illinois and
to promote the lasting health and beauty of watershed communities
. Much of our
work focuses on how policies such as the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water
Act are used in Illinois -
laws intended to protect our waters, our environment, and,
ultimately, our health, Prairie Rivers Network has members that live and recreate
near Horseshoe Lake, the site of the proposed discharges, and have substantial
interest in ensuring that discharges do not impair waters in the area
. They depend
on clean waters in Horseshoe Lake for recreational activities including boating,
fishing, birdwatching and other wildlife viewing as well as fishing as a means of
subsistence
. We offer the following comments in the matter of the NPDFS
permitting process for Granite City Steel's discharge to Horseshoe Lake in Madison
County.
The Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation
t} printed on ret vrfed paper
1) Obiection to Denial o1' Requestfor anEztcusion of the Public CommentPeriod
and/or a
Public
We object
Hearing,
to the decision to deny the request for an extension of the public comment period and/or
a public hearing
. Once a draft NPDES permit is posted for public viewing, members of the public
are allowed 30 days to ask questions or provide comments of concern to the permit applicant and
the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
. This is not a very long time, given the brief nature of
the posted material and the additional information gathering frequently required to fully understand
the nature of the discharge and the capacity of the receiving waterbody to assimilate such pollution
.
According to 35 IAC 309-115(a
)(1), there should be "a public hearing on the issuance or denial of
an NPDES Permit or group of permits whenever the Agency determines that there exists a
significant degree of public interest in the proposed permit or group of permits (instances of doubt
shall be resolved in favor of holding the hearing), to warrant the holding of such a hearing
." Many
issues have been raised with the permit for Granite City Steel's discharge to Horseshoe Lake and
such uncertainty with the information, calculations, regulations and judgments used indeed warrants
further exploration and discussion with Agency personnel .
We urge the Illinois Pollution Control Board to ensure that the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permits process remain fully accessible and participatory for the public as
required by the Clean Water Act
. This is an essential component in clean water and natural
resource protection and must be upheld .
2) Objection to permitted increased
discharges of zinc to a zinc-impaired waterbody
.
Horseshoe Lake has been listed on the 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies since 1998 due to high
levels of zinc in the sediment, among other pollutants
. Granite City Steel's permit, in draft and
now final form, allows the discharge of zinc into Horseshoe Lake despite and further exacerbating
the Lake's zinc-related water and sediment quality problems
. Further, the permit allows increased
effluent load limits to the lake, violating the anti-backsliding provisions contained in the
antidegradation regulations of Illinois law
. Further yet, these increases in loading for zinc (as well
as lead) were allowed without proper analysis and public notice
. According to 35 IAC 302
.105(f),
an antidegradation analysis must be performed "for any proposed increase in pollutant loading that
necessitates the issuance of a new, renewed, or modified NPDES permit
."
3)
Objection to permitted cyanide limit despite knowledge of permit error
.
The effluent limits contained in the permit for cyanide have been set for 0
.01 mg/L for a 30-day
average, though this is twice the water quality standard for cyanide . Further, the permit engineer
who wrote the draft permit (Beth Burkard, Permit No
. 1L0000329, August 17, 2004) noted that the
lower 0.0052 mg/L limit should be used
. When pressed on this issue, IEPA personnel have claimed
that methods for measuring cyanide do not have detection limits that can reach the water quality
standard
. This is not accurate as Method OIA-1677
: Available Cyanide by Flow Injection, Ligand
Exchange, and Amperometry has a detection limit (MDL) of 0
.5 µg/l, and a minimum level (ML)
of 2 .0 µg/L and can be used to support the water quality standard
.
Secondly
. the 30-day average load limits were calculated using the maximum daily flow value,
rather than the average daily flow value
. This resulted in excessive permitted load limits for the 30-
day average load limits of cyanide
. Further, the load limit was calculated with the erroneous
1
concentration limits, as mentioned above, arid has n ::
:ulted in an improperly high loading of cyanide
to Horseshoe Lake .
4) Objection to permitted variance for and increased loading of ammonia nitrogen despite
long history of violations.
The effluent limits contained in this permit for ammonia nitrogen have been set at levels far too
lenient considering 1) the waterbody is listed as impaired on the 303(d) list in part due to ammonia
nitrogen, 2) Granite City Steel has committed significant non-compliance effluent violations for
ammonia at least 14 times in the last three years and 3) the permit allows increased loading of
ammonia nitrogen to the lake, violating the anti-backsliding provisions contained in the
antidegradation regulations of Illinois law . Further, as with zinc, this additional loading has been
permitted without proper analysis, in the form of an antidegradation assessment, and public notice .
Finally, we urge the Illinois Pollution Control Board to grant a public hearing so that these issues
and others may be appropriately addressed by concerned members of the public and Agency
personnel
. Prairie Rivers Network can think of no better or more appropriate time to hold a public
hearing than for a waterbody 1) within a state park 2) that is heavily used for recreational and
subsistence fishing purposes, 3) whose quality is already impaired, 4) is in a position to be further
impacted by additional discharge and 5) has had numerous citizens or citizen groups submit
concerns and requests for a public hearing . Please ensure that the public has an opportunity to fully
communicate concerns, the Agency has an opportunity to fully consider and respond to these public
concerns and that all relevant information can be brought to light so that this waterbody is
appropriately protected.
Sincerely, _
Traci Barkley, Watershed Scientist
Prairie Rivers Network
