la-202610-3ba1f7fa72: Repeal of Obsolete and Duplicative Provisions and Conforming Amendments

Department of Environmental Quality Office of the Secretary Legal Affairs Division Repeal of Obsolete and Duplicative Provisions and Conforming Amendments(LAC 33:I.3917, 3923, 6907, and 6923; LAC 33:III.511, 1317, 2103, 2901, and 5107; LAC 33:VII.311; LAC 33:IX.107, 301, 303, 321, 323, 325, 10103, 10105, 10107, 10109, 10111, and 10113) Under the authority of the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act, R.S. 30:2001 et seq., and in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq., the secretary gives notice that rulemaking procedures have been initiated to amend the Office of the Secretary, Air, Solid Waste, and Water Quality regulations. (MM025) The department has completed a comprehensive review of LAC Title 33 to identify provisions that are obsolete, duplicative of other regulations, duplicative of statute, or no longer administered by the department. The sections in this package are the results of that review that can be corrected without substantive change to any continuing regulatory obligation. Three circumstances account for most of the package. First, several provisions have been superseded in place. The LPDES appendices at LAC 33:IX.321, 323, and 325 predate the department's adoption of the current concentrated animal feeding operation and concentrated aquatic animal production facility rules, and the criteria they contain now appear in LAC 33:IX.2505, 7105, and 7107. Leaving all three sets in the Louisiana Administrative Code could cause conflict, and the 1985 animal thresholds in LAC 33:IX.321 do in fact differ from the current thresholds in LAC 33:IX.2505.B. Second, LAC 33:IX Chapter 101 regulates a program the department does not administer. The Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund is administered by the Louisiana Department of Health, office of public health, under R.S. 40:2821 et seq. and R.S. 36:254.1; R.S. 40:2821(B)(2) confirms that the revolving fund this department operates is the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Third, LAC 33:I.6907 and LAC 33:VII.311 are single-sentence provisions that either restate a cross-reference or restate an ordinary documentation practice, and neither adds a requirement that is not already imposed elsewhere. The repeal of LAC 33:III.2901 stands on a different footing and is the one substantive reduction in the package. R.S. 30:2054(B)(5) authorizes but does not require the department to adopt a program governing noxious odors. The ambient odor standard and the Method 41 butanol olfactometry panel procedure it incorporates have not proven to be a workable or reliable basis for regulatory determinations, and odor complaints are addressed more effectively through the department's permitting, nuisance, and enforcement authorities. The proposed rulemaking amends eight sections and repeals fourteen sections of LAC Title 33, across the Office of the Secretary (Part I), Air (Part III), Solid Waste (Part VII), and Water Quality (Part IX). In Part I, the notification provisions at LAC 33:I.3917 and 3923 are simplified by consolidating the duplicative cross-reference language and stating expressly that the Department of Public Safety 24-hour Louisiana Emergency Hazardous Materials Hotline notifies the Department of Environmental Quality; LAC 33:I.6923 is streamlined; and LAC 33:I.6907, which did nothing more than direct the reader back to LAC 33:I.Chapter 39, is repealed. In Part III, LAC 33:III.511, 1317, 2103, and 5107 are amended to remove surplus procedural language, and LAC 33:III.2901, the ambient odor standard and its Method 41 butanol olfactometry test procedure, is repealed, leaving Chapter 29 reserved. In Part VII, LAC 33:VII.311 is repealed. In Part IX, the three LPDES appendices at LAC 33:IX.321, 323, and 325 are repealed because their criteria are already stated in surviving sections, and LAC 33:IX.107, 301, and 303 are amended to redirect the cross-references those repeals would otherwise orphan. Also in Part IX, LAC 33:IX.10103 through 10113, the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund provisions in Chapter 101, are repealed. The package removes approximately 6,230 words from Title 33, a net reduction of roughly 66 percent of the text of the affected sections. It imposes no new requirement, no new reporting or recordkeeping obligation, and no new fee. The proposed revisions to LAC 33:III (Air) will be submitted to EPA as a requested revision to Louisiana's State Implementation Plan (SIP). The basis and rationale for this Rule are to remove regulatory text that no longer serves a purpose, to eliminate potential conflicts and dead cross-references within Title 33, and to align the Louisiana Administrative Code with the statutes and the agency assignments actually in force. The proposed Rule meets an exception listed in R.S. 30:2019(D)(2) and R.S. 49:963.B(3); therefore, no report regarding environmental/health benefits and social/economic costs is required. Title 33 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Part I. Office of the Secretary Subpart 2. Notification Chapter 39.Notification Regulations and Procedures for Unauthorized Discharges Subchapter C.Requirements for Non-Emergency Notification §3917.Notification Requirements for Unauthorized Discharges That Do Not Cause Emergency Conditions A.Except as noted in Subsection B below, in the event of an unauthorized discharge that exceeds a reportable quantity specified in Subchapter E of this Chapter, but that does not cause an emergency condition, the discharger shall promptly notify DPS by telephone at (225) 925-6595 (collect calls accepted 24 hours a day) within 24 hours after learning of the discharge. The DPS 24-hour Louisiana Emergency Hazardous Materials Hotline will notify the Department of Environmental Quality. B.In the event an unauthorized discharge that does not cause an emergency condition exceeds a reportable quantity specified in LAC 33:I.3931.A.1.c, LAC 33:I.3931.A.1.d, LAC 33:I.3931.B.2, or LAC 33:I.3931.B.3, but no other reportable quantity specified in Subchapter E of this Chapter, the discharger shall promptly notify DPS as described in Subsection A of this Section only if the discharge could reasonably be expected to escape the confinement of the facility or to an area to which the general public has unrestricted access. AUTHORITY NOTE:Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2025(J), 2060(H), 2076(D), 2183(I), 2194(C), and 2204(A). HISTORICAL NOTE:Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of the Secretary, LR 11:770 (August 1985), amended LR 19:1022 (August 1993), repromulgated LR 20:182 (February 1994), amended by the Office of Environmental Assessment, Environmental Planning Division, LR 26:2443 (November 2000), repromulgated LR 27:38 (January 2001), amended LR 30:1668 (August 2004), amended by the Office of the Secretary, Legal Affairs Division, LR 31:2434 (October 2005), LR 33:2080 (October 2007), LR 36:1240 (June 2010), amended by the Office of the Secretary, Legal Division, LR 42:1885 (November 2016), amended by the Office of the Secretary, Legal Affairs Division, LR 53: Subchapter D.Procedures for Notifying the Department §3923.Notification Procedures for Other Regulatorily Required Reporting