Thursday, January 28, 2021
On January 15, 2021, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) received approval to implement the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) program for oil and gas discharges. [1] Generally, as a result of this approval, applicants for NPDES permits for produced water, hydrostatic test water, and gas plant effluent will only require a single TCEQ authorization rather than authorizations from both the Railroad Commission of Texas (“RRC”) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as previously had been required. [2]
EPA received wide-ranging public comments regarding TCEQ’s request for NPDES program authorization for these discharges. [3] A number of commenters requested an extension of the public comment period to allow EPA additional time to consider public comment. [4] Noting that the comments did not raise substantial new issues related to the application for partial NPDES program a