HEARING FOR PROPOSED BUFFALO RIVER NPS WASTEWATER PERMITS

[Half Ton]

HEARING SET FOR PROPOSED BUFFALO RIVER WASTEWATER PERMITS



The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) will hold a public meeting

and hearing at Yellville Oct. 1, 2013, to discuss and receive comments on the proposed renewal

of two wastewater discharge permits for National Park Service (NPS) facilities located on the

Buffalo River in Marion County. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Yellville-Summit School

District Cafeteria, 1124 North Panther Avenue, Yellville.



The affected facilities are the Buffalo Point Lower Plant, 2268 State Highway 268 E, and

the Buffalo Point Upper Plant, 2229 State Highway 268 E, both located about 17 miles south of

Yellville. Both facilities discharge treated wastewater to the Buffalo River.



The NPS applied for renewals of both National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

(NPDES) permits in January of this year, and both facilities were the subject of a previous public

notice which provided for written comments to be submitted by Aug. 19, 2013. The comment

period for the facilities is being reopened for the duration of the public hearing only, and the

comment period will close when the hearing adjourns.



Oral and written comments will be accepted at the hearing but written comments are

preferred in the interest of accuracy.



ADEQ technical staff will be available at the meeting/hearing to informally discuss the

draft permits. In addition, a hearing officer will accept public comments during the event.



ADEQ’s contact person for requesting information regarding the draft permits, or

obtaining a copy of the permits and the Statement of Basis is Marysia Jastrzebski, Arkansas

Department of Environmental Quality Water Division, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little

Rock, AR 72118; telephone, 501-682-0622; E-mail, Water-Draft-Permit-Comment@adeq.state.ar.us. A copy of the proposed draft permits as well as the publication date may be found on the ADEQ’s website at: NPDES Permits Public Notice Search. Once the page opens, the permit numbers AR0034941 and AR0034959 will need to be entered separately in the “Permit #” box on the search page to conduct two separate searches for

the draft permits.



Comment and public hearing procedures for the NPDES program may be found in the

Federal Register at 40 CFR Parts 124.10 through 124.12, and in the Arkansas Pollution Control

and Ecology Commission’s Regulation No. 8. All persons who submit comments at the Oct. 1,

2013, public hearing, or who submitted written comments prior to the Aug. 19, 2013, deadline

will have legal standing to appeal the ADEQ’s final permit decision.



The ADEQ will provide notice of its final permitting decision to the applicant and each

person who submitted timely comments on the proposed permits or requested notice of the final

permitting decision, providing a legible mailing address has been furnished.

[Plankton]

How bout that, I guess a few folk were paying attention. Good for them. It's about time people start paying attention to the 30 day listing on the ADEQ website.

Here is a neat article the National Park Service wastewater discharges into the Buffalo and about the upcoming hearing.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013 ... -20130904/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;