2018 Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Survey (New)

The Clean Water Act (CWA) directs the President to issue regulations ‘‘establishing procedures, methods, and equipment and other requirements for equipment to prevent discharges of oil and hazardous substances from . . .onshore facilities and offshore facilities, and to contain such discharges’’ (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)(1)(C)). In 1978, EPA designated a list of hazardous substances under the authority of CWA section 311(b)(2)(A). This list is found at 40 CFR part 116. EPA concurrently proposed requirements to prevent the discharge of designated hazardous substances from facilities subject to permitting requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) of the CWA (43 FR 39276); the proposed regulations were never finalized. On July, 21, 2015, several parties filed a lawsuit against EPA for unreasonable delay/failure to perform a nondiscretionary duty to establish regulations for hazardous substances under CWA section 311(j)(1)(C). According to a settlement agreement reached in that case and filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, on February 16, 2016, EPA is to sign a proposed regulatory action no later than June 16, 2018. EPA is developing a regulatory proposal regarding the prevention of CWA hazardous substance discharges. EPA does not directly receive reports on specific types and amounts of hazardous substances stored and used at facilities across the country. Much of that information is collected under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S. Code Chapter 116; EPCRA) which requires Tier II facilities to report the maximum and average daily amounts of hazardous chemicals onsite during the preceding year to their respective state, Tribal, or territorial authority. Therefore, the Agency has developed a short voluntary survey to be sent to states, tribes and territories of the United States requesting information on the number and type of EPCRA Tier II facilities reporting CWA hazardous substances onsite, as well as information about historical discharges of CWA hazardous substances, ecological and human health impacts of those discharges, and existing state and tribal regulatory programs that serve to prevent discharges of hazardous substances. This information will assist EPA in estimating the universe of facilities nationwide potentially subject to discharge prevention regulations for hazardous substances designated at 40 CFR part 116. EPA anticipates this information will inform the rulemaking process, assisting in the identification of potentially affected entities, evaluation of potential regulatory approaches, and estimating economic impacts.

The latest form for 2018 Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Survey (New) expires 2021-06-30 and can be found here.