Ohio EPA, DMWM: Two Draft General Permits for Beneficial Use Now Available For Comments

The Ohio EPA, Division of Materials and Waste Management issued the following notice:

“The Division of Materials and Waste Management and is making available for interested party comment two draft general permits for beneficial use — Spend Foundry Sand (used in several applications, including as a soil amendment and as general fill), and Alum Drinking Water Treatment Residuals (used as a soil amendment).  These draft documents may be accessed at http://epa.ohio.gov/dmwm/Home/BeneficialUse.aspx#123635124-permits.

When final, these general permits will be used in conjunction with the recently finalized beneficial use rules contained in Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 3745-599, which will become effective March 31, 2017. 

These new drafts have been significantly revised based upon program development and through public comments received throughout 2015 and 2016.  The advantage to this posting is now you can evaluate the draft general permits alongside the final beneficial use rules under which they are being created.  DMWM will accept public comments on these draft general permits until January 20, 2017.  DMWM is also developing draft general permits for beneficial use of dredged materials from federal shipping channels in Lake Erie and for Biosolids Incinerator Ash.  DMWM will be posting those for public comment in the near future.”

Here are links to other blog articles regarding Ohio’s dredged materials programs:

Ohio’s Lake Erie Dredged Material Program (May 2016)

Ohio EPA’s Draft Beneficial Use Program (May 2016)

Ohio Ports: Facts and Statistics (June 2016)

Ohio’s Dredged Material Program – Additional Information (July 2016)

______________________

Ohio EPA's DMWM Proposes Beneficial Use Rules to JCARR

Earlier today I had published information regarding Ohio's Dredged Material Program. This afternoon I received the following information from the Ohio EPA's Division of Materials and Waste Management ("DMWM") regarding it's proposed rules on the beneficial use of dredged material.

The DMWM has proposed the beneficial use rules in O.A.C. Chapter 3745-599 to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review.  Click here to access the proposed rules and here to view the public notice.

The DMWM plans to host a webinar on August 23, 2016 to answer questions that anyone might have regarding the beneficial use rules. When the Division publishes more information regarding the webinar, we will post it here on our web site.
______________

Ohio's Dredged Material Program -- Additional Information

 

Given the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 1 earlier this year, finding solutions for keeping Ohio’s northern shipping channels open has taken on new urgency. As stated in previous blog articles, the Army Corps of Engineers handles the dredging of shipping channels but will only pay for the most cost effective options, which is dumping the dredged material in deeper waters in the Great Lakes or putting dredged material into a diked disposal site. If a state requires the Army Corps of Engineers to dump the dredged material in a way that increases the cost, then that state is responsible for payment of the additional costs.

Beginning July 1, 2020, dredged material can no longer be dumped in Lake Erie. The state of Ohio is seeking creative solutions for handling dredged material that will provide for cost effective solutions to its disposal, including the reuse of much of the dredged materials.

Click here for more info about the goals and objectives of Ohio’s Dredged Material Program.

Below are links to additional resources provided by the Ohio EPA related to Ohio’s Dredged Material Program:

-          U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division

-          Toledo Harbor Project, Ohio Lake Erie Commission

-          Senate Bill 1 Text and Analysis

-          Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative

-          Great Lakes Dredging Team

-          Soil Erosion and Dredging, Great Lakes Commission

-          Dredging in the Great Lakes Region Great Lakes Information Network

 

Ohio EPA's Draft Beneficial Use Rules

In my article a couple of weeks ago, I covered some of the information in the Ohio EPA's Dredged Material Program. Due to state law in Ohio prohibiting open lake disposal of dredged material in Lake Erie after July 2020, the limited space left in confined disposal sites, we need to quickly develop cost effective ways to find a beneficial use for the dredged materials. For this reason the Ohio EPA is attempting to develop Beneficial Use rules that provide a framework that will facilitate the reuse of dredged materials.

Below are the links to the Interested Party draft of the Beneficial Use Rules and related information. Changes have been made to the draft based on comments that the Ohio EPA has received and it anticipates filing an official draft with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review later this summer (targeting June 2016).

Beneficial Use Rules

§  Business Impact Analysis Beneficial Use Rules, Ohio Administrative Code 3745-599

§  3745-599 Draft 

§  3745-599-01 Draft Beneficial Use - Applicability 

§  3745-599-02 Draft Beneficial Use - Definitions 

§  3745-599-03 Draft Beneficial Use - Incorporation by Reference 

§  3745-599-05 Draft Beneficial Use - General Exclusions 

§  3745-599-10 Draft Beneficial Use Byproduct Incorporated into Certain Construction Materials or Used as a Fuel or as an Ingredient in a Combustion Unit

§  3745-599-20 Draft Beneficial Use - Prohibitions 

§  3745-599-25 Draft Beneficial Use - Signatures 

§  3745-599-30 Draft Beneficial Use - Relationships Among Authorizing Documents, Rules and the Authority of the Director and Board of Health

§  3745-599-35 Draft Beneficial Use - Legitimacy Criteria 

§  3745-599-60 Draft Approved Sampling and Characterization Procedures for the Use of a Beneficial Use Byproduct 

§  3745-599-200 Draft General Beneficial Use Permit

§  3745-599-210 Draft Notice of Intent to Obtain Coverage Under a General Beneficial Use Permit

§  3745-599-220 Draft Coverage Under a General Beneficial Use Permit 

§  3745-599-310 Draft Application for an Individual Beneficial Use Permit 

§  3745-599-320 Draft Issuance of an Individual Beneficial Use Permit 

§  3745-599-330 Draft Notice and Information for Distribution - Individual Beneficial Use Permits 

§  3745-599-334 Draft Generator Obligations for Record-keeping and Reporting - Individual Beneficial Use Permits 

§  3745-599-335 Draft Distributor Obligations for Record-keeping and Reporting - Individual Beneficial Use Permits 

§  3745-599-340 Draft Characterization and Analysis Plan for Individual Beneficial Use Permits

§  3745-599-345 Draft Compliance Sampling and Analysis for Individual Beneficial Use Permits

§  3745-599-350 Draft Changes to an Individual Beneficial Use Permit

§  3745-599-360 Draft Renewal of an Individual Beneficial Use Permit 

§  3745-599-370 Draft Denial and Revocation of a Beneficial Use Permit

Interested Party Review - 2015 Draft Beneficial Use Rules

Draft General Permits - March 2014

Interested Party Webinar Power Point - June 10, 2015 

Interested Party Webinar Audio - June 10, 2015 

State Law Matters: Ohio's Lake Erie Dredged Material Program

All of the information below was taken from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency web page for its Dredged Material Program —

If you live or work along Ohio’s northern border, aka Lake Erie, particularly near one of Ohio’s 8 ports, then you may be aware of the need to regularly dredge our shipping channels and the controversy that has been brewing with regard to what is done with the dredged material.  Currently, some or all of the dredged material, depending on where along the lakeshore the dredging occurs, is dumped in the open lake. By July 2020, the State of Ohio will no longer permit disposal of dredged material in the open waters of Lake Erie.

The Ohio EPA and others are scrambling to look for cost effective solutions for the material that is dredged, much, if not most, of which is suitable for reuse.  Here are a few FAQs that are published on the Ohio EPA’s web site:

What is dredged material?

Dredged material includes material excavated or dredged from a lake or stream. The Ohio EPA beneficial use program focuses only on material dredged from federal navigation channels on Lake Erie during harbor or navigation maintenance activities. Dredged material can consist of soil, sand, silt, clay and organic matter that have settled out onto the bottom of the channel. 

What if I want to beneficially us dredged material from a federal navigation channel in an upland setting, do I need Ohio EPA approval?

Yes. If you wish to beneficially use dredged material in an upland setting, you will need to first submit a Land Application Management Plan (LAMP) permit application by completing LAMP Form A and LAMP Form C1 which can be found here (click on the “I-N” Tab and then click on the “LAMP Form” bar to access the forms). In addition, you will need to submit a description of how you will manage, store and/or treat the dredge prior to beneficially using the dredged material. You must also submit all sampling and analysis data of the dredged material along with all proposed beneficial uses. If you are interested in beneficially using dredged material in an upland setting, please contact Ohio EPA’s Division of Materials and Waste Management at 614-644-2621 and they will answer any questions you may have, help you complete the LAMP permit application and assist with the authorization process. 

Is Ohio EPA developing beneficial use rules for dredged materials?

Yes. Ohio EPA is in the process of developing beneficial use rules which will include the use of dredged material from federal navigation channels. In May, 2015, draft beneficial rules were released for interested party comment. Ohio EPA is reviewing the comments received and anticipates taking the first step in the formal part of the Ohio rule-making process by filing proposed rules and providing an Ohio EPA public hearing and comment period early in 2016. Following consideration of formal public comments and testimony, the proposed rules will have a separate hearing before the Ohio Legislative Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Once these have been completed, we will file final rules and set an effective date. Until the rules are finalized, the LAMP process described above should be followed. 

Has the Ohio EPA approved the beneficial use of dredged material?

Yes. To date, Ohio EPA has issued two Land Application Management Plan permit authorizations for the beneficial use of dredged material. They are both associated with the beneficial use of dredged material from a Confined Disposal Facility located in Cleveland, Ohio. The first authorization was issued on June 29, 2015; the second authorization was issued on Nov. 5, 2015.

_______

The Army Corp of Engineers oversees the dredging. It typically covers the cost of dredging and disposal of the dredged material, but only at the level of the most affordable option. Open lake dumping of the dredged material is the lowest cost option available today. If another method of disposal is required, as it will be after July 2020 in Ohio, we will have to come up with the money to pay the cost differential.  We have 4 years to figure that out and implement the solution.

Stay tuned for future updates.

_________________