§ 125.136 - As an owner or operator of a new offshore oil and gas extraction facility, what must I collect and submit when I apply for my new or reissued NPDES permit?

§ 125.136 As an owner or operator of a new offshore oil and gas extraction facility, what must I collect and submit when I apply for my new or reissued NPDES permit?

(a)

(1) As an owner or operator of a new offshore oil and gas extraction facility, you must submit to the Director a statement that you intend to comply with either:

(i) The Track I requirements for new offshore oil and gas extraction facilities in § 125.134(b); or

(ii) If you are a fixed facility, you may choose to comply with the Track II requirements in § 125.134(c).

(2) You must also submit the application information required by 40 CFR 122.21(r) and the information required in either paragraph (b) of this section for Track I or, if you are a fixed facility that chooses to comply under Track II, paragraph (c) of this section when you apply for a new or reissued NPDES permit in accordance with 40 CFR 122.21.

(b) Track I application requirements. To demonstrate compliance with Track I requirements in § 125.134(b), you must collect and submit to the Director the information in paragraphs (b)(1) through (3) of this section.

(1) Velocity information. You must submit the following information to the Director to demonstrate that you are complying with the requirement to meet a maximum through-screen design intake velocity of no more than 0.5 ft/s at each cooling water intake structure as required in § 125.134(b)(2):

(i) A narrative description of the design, structure, equipment, and operation used to meet the velocity requirement; and

(ii) Design calculations showing that the velocity requirement will be met at minimum ambient source water surface elevations (based on best professional judgment using available hydrological data) and maximum head loss across the screens or other device.

(2) Source waterbody flow information. If you are a fixed facility and your cooling water intake structure is located in an estuary or tidal river, you must provide the mean low water tidal excursion distance and any supporting documentation and engineering calculations to show that your cooling water intake structure facility meets the flow requirements in § 125.134(b)(3).

(3) Design and Construction Technology Plan. To comply with § 125.134(b)(4) and/or (5), if applicable, you must submit to the Director the following information in a Design and Construction Technology Plan:

(i) If the Director determines that additional impingement requirements should be included in your permit:

(A) Information to demonstrate whether or not you meet the criteria in § 125.134(b)(4);

(B) Delineation of the hydraulic zone of influence for your cooling water intake structure;

(ii) New offshore oil and gas extraction facilities required to install design and construction technologies and/or operational measures must develop a plan explaining the technologies and measures you have selected. (Examples of appropriate technologies include, but are not limited to, increased opening to cooling water intake structure to decrease design intake velocity, wedgewire screens, fixed screens, velocity caps, location of cooling water intake opening in waterbody, etc. Examples of appropriate operational measures include, but are not limited to, seasonal shutdowns or reductions in flow, continuous operations of screens, etc.) The plan must contain the following information, if applicable:

(A) A narrative description of the design and operation of the design and construction technologies, including fish-handling and return systems, that you will use to maximize the survival of those species expected to be most susceptible to impingement. Provide species-specific information that demonstrates the efficacy of the technology;

(B) To demonstrate compliance with § 125.134(b)(5), if applicable, a narrative description of the design and operation of the design and construction technologies that you will use to minimize entrainment of those species expected to be the most susceptible to entrainment. Provide species-specific information that demonstrates the efficacy of the technology; and

(C) Design calculations, drawings, and estimates to support the descriptions provided in paragraphs (b)(3)(ii)(A) and (B) of this section.

(c) Application requirements for Track II. If you are a fixed facility and have chosen to comply with the requirements of Track II in § 125.134(c) you must collect and submit the following information:

(1) Source waterbody flow information. If your cooling water intake structure is located in an estuary or tidal river, you must provide the mean low water tidal excursion distance and any supporting documentation and engineering calculations to show that your cooling water intake structure facility meets the flow requirements in § 125.134(c)(2);

(2) Track II Comprehensive Demonstration Study. You must perform and submit the results of a Comprehensive Demonstration Study (Study). This information is required to characterize the source water baseline in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure(s), characterize operation of the cooling water intake(s), and to confirm that the technology(ies) proposed and/or implemented at your cooling water intake structure reduce the impacts to fish and shellfish to levels comparable to those you would achieve were you to implement the applicable requirements in § 125.134(b).

(i) To meet the “comparable level” requirement, you must demonstrate that:

(A) You have reduced impingement mortality of all life stages of fish and shellfish to 90 percent or greater of the reduction that would be achieved through the applicable requirements in § 125.134(b)(2); and

(B) If you are a facility without sea chests, you have minimized entrainment of entrainable life stages of fish and shellfish to 90 percent or greater of the reduction that would have been achieved through the applicable requirements in § 125.134(b)(5);

(ii) You must develop and submit a plan to the Director containing a proposal for how information will be collected to support the study. The plan must include:

(A) A description of the proposed and/or implemented technology(ies) to be evaluated in the Study;

(B) A list and description of any historical studies characterizing the physical and biological conditions in the vicinity of the proposed or actual intakes and their relevancy to the proposed Study. If you propose to rely on existing source water body data, it must be no more than 5 years old, you must demonstrate that the existing data are sufficient to develop a scientifically valid estimate of potential impingement mortality and (if applicable) entrainment impacts, and provide documentation showing that the data were collected using appropriate quality assurance/quality control procedures;

(C) Any public participation or consultation with Federal or State agencies undertaken in developing the plan; and

(D) A sampling plan for data that will be collected using actual field studies in the source water body. The sampling plan must document all methods and quality assurance procedures for sampling and data analysis. The sampling and data analysis methods you propose must be appropriate for a quantitative survey and based on consideration of methods used in other studies performed in the source water body. The sampling plan must include a description of the study area (including the area of influence of the cooling water intake structure and at least 100 meters beyond); taxonomic identification of the sampled or evaluated biological assemblages (including all life stages of fish and shellfish); and sampling and data analysis methods; and

(iii) You must submit documentation of the results of the Study to the Director. Documentation of the results of the Study must include:

(A) Source Water Biological Study. The Source Water Biological Study must include:

(1) A taxonomic identification and characterization of aquatic biological resources including: A summary of historical and contemporary aquatic biological resources; determination and description of the target populations of concern (those species of fish and shellfish and all life stages that are most susceptible to impingement and entrainment); and a description of the abundance and temporal/spatial characterization of the target populations based on the collection of multiple years of data to capture the seasonal and daily activities (e.g., spawning, feeding and water column migration) of all life stages of fish and shellfish found in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure;

(2) An identification of all threatened or endangered species that might be susceptible to impingement and entrainment by the proposed cooling water intake structure(s); and

(3) A description of additional chemical, water quality, and other anthropogenic stresses on the source waterbody.

(B) Evaluation of potential cooling water intake structure effects. This evaluation must include:

(1) Calculations of the reduction in impingement mortality and, (if applicable), entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish that would need to be achieved by the technologies you have selected to implement to meet requirements under Track II. To do this, you must determine the reduction in impingement mortality and entrainment that would be achieved by implementing the requirements of § 125.134(b)(2) and, for facilities without sea chests, § 125.134(b)(5) of Track I at your site.

(2) An engineering estimate of efficacy for the proposed and/or implemented technologies used to minimize impingement mortality and (if applicable) entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish and maximize survival of impinged life stages of fish and shellfish. You must demonstrate that the technologies reduce impingement mortality and (if applicable) entrainment of all life stages of fish and shellfish to a comparable level to that which you would achieve were you to implement the requirements in § 125.134(b)(2) and, for facilities without sea chests, § 125.134(b)(5) of Track I. The efficacy projection must include a site-specific evaluation of technology(ies) suitability for reducing impingement mortality and (if applicable) entrainment based on the results of the Source Water Biological Study in paragraph (c)(2)(iii)(A) of this section. Efficacy estimates may be determined based on case studies that have been conducted in the vicinity of the cooling water intake structure and/or site-specific technology prototype studies.

(C) Verification monitoring plan. You must include in the Study a plan to conduct, at a minimum, two years of monitoring to verify the full-scale performance of the proposed or implemented technologies and/or operational measures. The verification study must begin at the start of operations of the cooling water intake structure and continue for a sufficient period of time to demonstrate that the facility is reducing the level of impingement mortality and (if applicable) entrainment to the level documented in paragraph (c)(2)(iii)(B) of this section. The plan must describe the frequency of monitoring and the parameters to be monitored. The Director will use the verification monitoring to confirm that you are meeting the level of impingement mortality and entrainment reduction required in § 125.134(c), and that the operation of the technology has been optimized.