MEETING MINUTES
SENATE BILL 325 RULEMAKING WORKGROUP
Thursday, November 30,2017
9:30 AM
Metcalf Building
1520 E. Sixth Ave, Helena, MT 59620
PRESENT
Workgroup Members Present:
Dave Galt
Peggy Trenk
Brenda Lindlief-Hall (phone)
Andrew Gorder (phone)
Montana Department of Environmental Quality Staff Members Present:
Tim Davis
Myla Kelly
Melissa Schaar
Eric Urban
Kevin Krogstad
Poonam Giri
Jon Staldine
Other:
Pete Schade
Ms. Myla Kellycalled the meeting to order. The meeting commenced with introductions.
Andrew Gorder from the Clark Fork Coalition introduced himself as a new participating member.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved and will be posted on the website. Ms. Kelly moved the meeting to the first agenda item.
MCA 75-5-222 part 2 (variances) - update
Ms. Myla Kelly stated that DEQ will be requesting that the Board of Environmental Review (BER) initiate rulemaking at the next meeting, Friday, December 8, 9am, Metcalf Building. DEQ will be presenting to the board information that is somewhat similar to the presentation before the board, March 2017.
Ms. Myla Kelly asked if any members of the workgroup anticipated providing comments to the BER.
Mr. Dave Galt,may provide comments in response to the first sentence in the use of the word “May”.
NEW RULE I Variance from Standard for Water Body Conditions (1) The department may grant to a permittee a variance from a water quality standard if the department determines……
Mr. Dave Galt suggested substitution of the word “shall”.
Ms. Myla Kelly will check with DEQ legal for clarification on the use of “shall” or “may” in the new rule language.
If BER initiates rulemaking, the following schedule and public process applies:
To be provided from DEQ Legal
MCA 75-5-222 part 1 (nonanthropogenic) - update
Ms. Myla Kelly provided an update to the last DEQ-EPA meeting in regards to the nonanthropogenic rule language and the DON/NAS process. EPA was in support of the methodology to complete theDemonstration of Natural (DON) and Nonanthropogenic Standard (NAS) for Madison River. EPA was in support of this process for development of site specific standards for arsenic. However, was not supportive as performance based process.
Mr. Eric Urban clarified that moving forward the area of consideration is not a permitting issue, but rather an assessment issue.
Ms. Melissa Schaargave an update on the Yellowstone River Arsenic Mass Load Model. Data collection efforts have been completed, the conceptual model has been designed, and implementation and analysis is well under way. Preliminary results are expected late January 2018. The methodology used is similar to the DON and NAS methods developed for the Madison River Arsenic Mass Load Model.
Closing Comments
Ms. Myla Kelly would like to have a larger discussion on PART 2 at the next SB325 workgroup meeting. If the BER chooses to initiate rulemaking for Part 2, the next meeting may include a discussion on comments submitted to BER. The preliminary results of the Yellowstone River Arsenic Mass Load Model will be presented. Additional discussions as to the next steps for the SB325 workgroup will be discussed.
Ms. Peggy Trenkasked about how SB325 applies today.
Mr. Eric Urban provided an explanation that there aretwo approaches,the concept of a performance based approach and the other is to correct the standard itself. Maybe the cleaner path forward is to just correct the standard and take SB325 off the table.
Ms. Peggy Trenk asked about the similarity between DON/NAS approach and Site Specific Standards.
Mr. Eric Urban summarized that at a very high level, they are very similar.
Mr. Tim Davis responded that the workgroup may need to look at the law and see what works and what doesn’t work. There may be a need to change something in the law. He also asked the question of whether we need to ask the legislature to adapt the law to move forward.
Ms. Myla Kellyasked about the nextimmediate step and timing of the next meeting.
Mr. Eric Urban responded that if BER initiates rulemaking, the board is responsible for answering comments. DEQ can provide what comments were made. DEQ can’t provide suggestions for how to respond to those comments.
DEQ will provide an email update to the group as to the outcome of Part 2 at the next BER meeting.
The next meeting will be scheduled the end of January, 2018.
Meeting adjourned at 10:05 pm.
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