Public Meeting on GE's Draft Final NPDES Permit

There was a public meeting on Monday, October 27, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the EPA office at 10 Lyman St (next to Gym Fest) in Pittsfield, MA. so that members of the public could discuss the terms of the permit and the
appeals process with a member of EPA's NPDES Permitting staff.

Members of the public have asked where to find the September 2008 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permit issued by EPA Region 1.  

A link to that document is at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/npdes/permits_listing_ma.html.   Scroll down the page and click on the following permit: Pittsfield (Housatonic River)     General Electric Company (PDF) (24 pp., 77 KB)     September 30, 2008

The NPDES permit is under a separate EPA program, and is not being implemented as part of the work for the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site.

Jim Murphy
United States Environmental Protection Agency
New England - Region 1
Office  of the Regional Administrator
1 Congress Street Suite 1100 (RAA)
Boston, MA 02114-2023
617-918-1028 (phone)
617-918-0028 (fax)

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Finally, GE's Final NPDES Permit has been Issued for Public Comment 9/30/08

Something is seriously wrong with the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (MPDES) permit process! Jane Winn was contacted on September 11, 2008 about comments she made on March 25, 2005 regarding General Electric's Draft NPDES permit for the Pittsfield site. The final permit for public review and comment was released September 30, 2008 and we were notified October 2, 2008. We were very, very skeptical that EPA could have seriously considered our comments - however, we were pleasantly surprised! The permit is much improved and many of our comments were addressed. Here are some of Jane's thoughts upon reviewing the final NPDES permit.

I have reviewed the response to comments for the NPDES permit. I am pleased with much of it. My BIGGEST concern is that there is no automatic public access. Yes, I know we could continually FOIA [file a Freedom of Information Act request], but I do not think that should be necessary. I do think it is critical that we be watchdogs on this.

I would like this to have a spot on EPA's website - that would save EPA from having to mail each of us all the documentation each time. (see page 123 of the permit response to comments - I want the monthly summary of all data collected to be posted - not us having to contact EPA or DEP.)

One other comment - it is really easy to create a Table of Contents for a document. Why the heck didn't EPA do this for the response to comments?

• I am glad EPA recognized that there are huge informational gaps (as they say at the top of page 18) that they will try to begin to remedy with additional monitoring requirements.
• I am glad that EPA has required system mapping in the SWPPP [Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan] and that the SWPPP be updated annually. I would like to be sure that we have access to those updates as they come out.
  
• I am glad that they say, on that page 18, that EPA did not consider the use of dilution in establishing PCB limitations and conditions due to the persistence and high rate of bioaccumulation. - I am not sure I believe it given some of the things they said later, but I have to go back and document what those things were that called this into question. I think I may have been confused between old permit references and what is actually in the new permit.
• I am really glad that EPA is requiring GE to come up with a site survey to determine whether there are additional point sources on their facility (page 101 response 23) I want a copy of this site survey as soon as it is produced!!! I also want to right to present evidence of additional sites if we disagree with GE's survey - including a site, if necessary.
• I really, really like the Permit Re-Opener! Good idea - but we need to be able to see all the data each month and the maps that GE comes up with for their site survey.
  

• I am concerned that GE could still pick and choose when to sample and could bias the results by picking times to sample that avoid the worst discharges. This is an on-going concern about almost all of GE's sampling.
  

See BEAT's March 2005 comments or the 2005 joint comments by BEAT, Housatonic River Initiative (HRI), and Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL).

Public Comment Period

GE has issued a draft National Pollution Discharge Elimination System draft permit for public comment. This permit gives the conditions for GE to discharge water into the Housatonic River, Unkamet Brook, and Silver Lake in Pittsfield, MA. This is actually a renewal of a permit that expired in 1997. BEAT is extremely concerned about the amounts of PCBs going into these waterbodies, especially the Housatonic River ABOVE the current clean up!

There was a public hearing where EPA will record testimony (but not answer questions) Wednesday, March 23, 2005 TIME: 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm at the EPA office at 10 Lyman St (next to Gym Fest), Pittsfield, MA. Written public comments will be accepted until March 25, 2005.

Information about the draft permit may be inspected on EPA's Website.

Comments were sent to the U.S. EPA, Office of Ecosystem Protection, Attention: Brian Pitt, One Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2023.

If during the public comment period, significant new questions are raised concerning the permit, EPA may require a new draft permit or fact sheet or may reopen the public comment period.

BEAT is working closely with the Housatonic River Initiative (HRI), Housatonic Riverkeeper, and the Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL) on the NPDES draft permit issue.

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Some of BEAT's comments on the NPDES draft permit so far:

1) GE is exceeding EPA PCB standards in every discharge into the river. These discharges are upstream of the clean up. PCBs are being detected in the clean portion of the river. The clean up of the river is in jeopardy.

2) Even though PCB standards are being exceeded, EPA included few numerical limits in the new permit.

3) GE should be required to determine the amount of PCBs entering the receiving waters from all the outfalls combined per year. This should include estimating the amounts entering during unmonitored storm events. The data should not be pre remediation. This should be an effective monitoring program testing each individual outflow not batch testing. Flow measurements from pipes should be monitored continuously 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Yard drains (YD), Overland Flow (OF), and Non-Point source (NP) should be included. This entire site is contaminated and thus a point source.

4) It is usually a good idea to promote sheetflow and infiltration, but in this case they may also carry PCB loading from the facility into the river. GE needs to be able to measure the PCBs carried by the sheet flow and infiltration at the locations they know it is getting into the river.

5) Underground pipes, even those that are no longer used and have been capped, can act as "preferential pathways" for contaminants to find their way to a waterbody. Water will flow more easily along the pipe and therefore the pipes act as "preferential pathways" for the water. Pipes should be tested at their outfalls, but not just the water coming out of the pipe, but also any water that may have followed the pipe as a "preferential pathway".

6) GE should account for and map all pipes under their property, in particular - the "perforated sub drain lines" that ran throughout the site and - the pipes that run under the toxic waste disposal areas.

7) GE should be required to give a complete description of how all abandoned pipes, floor drains, liquid waste storage areas, underground storage tanks, etc. were demolished, filled, removed, or left in place.

8) GE should videotape all pipes that run through the site that have an outfall into one of these waterbodies to show the condition of the pipe and that there are no unknown connections on the site. This includes city stormwater pipes where they run through GE property.

9) Ditches from the plant should be considered as outflows from the facility. So should Unkamet Brook which runs through an old GE dumping ground.

10) What are the by products of the GE plastics operations and are they being tested.

11) pH levels in some outfalls are excessive in both directions.

12) GE should include the monitoring data on the wells that Pittsfield Generating Co. has. These data also should include flow (quantity) as well as PCB and other contaminant levels.

Fresh water criterion continuous concentration for PCB is 0.014 ug/l Human health criteria is 0.000064 ug/l ( measured as total PCB)

Historical points
1) HRI argued this would happen if the consent decree didn't address PCB inflow from the plant
2) Stormwater should have been part of the consent decree
3) Permit expired 2/97. Why so long to address this?
4) Will the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA) take on the responsibility of the storm drains? What about liability?

See BEAT's March 2005 comments or the 2005 joint comments by BEAT, Housatonic River Initiative (HRI), and Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL).

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GE NPDES draft permit - Legal notice 2/15/2005

MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS 1 WINTER STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02108 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY NEW ENGLAND - REGION 1 OFFICE OF ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ONE CONGRESS STREET - SUITE-1100 (CMP) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02114-2023 EXTENSION OF PUBLIC NOTICE DATE AND NOTIFICATION OF NEW PUBLIC HEARING DATE OF A DRAFT NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES) PERMIT TO DISCHARGE INTO THE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES UNDER SECTIONS 301 AND 402 OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT (THE "ACT"), AS AMENDED, AND REQUEST FOR STATE CERTIFICATION UNDER SECTION 401 OF THE ACT. DATE OF NOTICE: February 15, 2005 PERMIT NUMBER: MA0003891 PUBLIC NOTICE NUMBER: MA-012-05 NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS OF APPLICANT: General Electric Company 159 Plastics Avenue Pittsfield, MA 01201 NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE FACILITY WHERE DISCHARGE OCCURS: General Electric Company 159 Plastics Avenue Pittsfield, MA 01201 RECEIVING WATERS: Housatonic River (East Branch), Unkamet Brook, and Silver Lake RECEIVING WATERS CLASSIFICATION: B, Warm Water Fishery (Housatonic River Watershed) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) have cooperated in the development of a draft permit for the above identified facility. The effluent limits and permit conditions imposed have been drafted to assure that State Water Quality Standards and provisions of the Clean Water Act will be met. EPA has formally requested that the state certify the draft permit pursuant to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act and expects that the draft permit will be certified. INFORMATION ABOUT THE DRAFT PERMIT: A Fact Sheet (describing the type of facility; type and quantity of wastes; a brief summary of the basis for the draft permit conditions; and significant factual, legal and policy questions considered in preparing the draft permit) may be obtained at no cost by writing, calling, or emailing EPA's contact person named below: Janet Labonte NPDES Permit Program EPA Office of Ecosystem Protection One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CMP) Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2023 (617) 918-1667 "labonte.janet@epa.gov" The administrative record containing all documents relating to the draft permit is on file and may be inspected at the EPA Boston office mentioned above between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. The EPA NPDES Records Center phone number in Boston is: (617) 918-1546. And, the administrative record containing all documents relating to the draft permit is on file and may be inspected at the following locations: EPA's Website. Documents are also available at the locations listed on the original public notice of December 22, 2004. NEW PUBLIC HEARING DATE: The Regional Administrator had determined, pursuant to 40 C.F.R. 124.12, that a significant degree of public interest exists in this proposed permit and that a public hearing should be held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to consider this permit. Accordingly, a public hearing will be held on the following date and time: DATE:Wednesday, March 23, 2005 TIME: 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm LOCATION:Berkshire Athenaeum Library Auditorium, Pittsfield, MA 01201 In accordance with 40 C.F.R. 124.12, the following is a summary of the procedures that shall be followed at the public hearing: a. The Presiding Officer shall have the authority to open and conclude the hearing and to maintain order; and b. Any person appearing at such a hearing may submit oral or written statements and data concerning the draft permit. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: The public comment period for the General Electric Company draft permit began on December 22, 2004 and is hereby extended until on March 25, 2005. All persons, including applicants, who believe any condition of the draft permit is inappropriate, must raise all issues and submit all available arguments and all supporting material for their arguments in full by the close of the public comment permit (See also: 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 124.13). Comments should be directed to the U.S. EPA, Office of Ecosystem Protection, Attention: Brian Pitt, One Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2023. If during the public comment period, significant new questions are raised concerning the permit, EPA may require a new draft permit or fact sheet or may reopen the public comment period. A public notice will be issued for any of these actions. FINAL PERMIT DECISION AND APPEALS: Following the close of the comment period, and after the public hearings are held, the Regional Administrator will issue a final permit decision and forward a copy of the final decision to the applicant and each person who has submitted written comments or requested notice. Within 30 days following the notice of the final permit decision any interested person may submit petition to the Environmental Appeals Board to reconsider or contest the final decision. Requests for formal hearings must satisfy the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 124.74. GLENN HAAS, DIRECTOR DIVISION OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LINDA M. MURPHY, DIRECTOR OFFICE OF ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY BOSTON, MA 2/15/2005
Location: MA Date: 2/15/2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle