February
6,
2004
(
Via
E­
Mail
Fox.
John@
epamail.
epa.
gov)
John
Fox
Office
of
Science
and
Technology
Office
of
Water
U.
S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency
(
4303T)
1200
Pennsylvania
Avenue
NW
Washington
DC
20460
Re:
Port
Townsend
Paper
Corporation
Preliminary
Comments
on
EPA
Approach
to
Cooling
Water
Intake
Structure
Phase
III
Rulemaking
Dear
Mr.
Fox:

Port
Townsend
Paper
is
pleased
to
submit
these
comments
on
EPA's
proposed
approach
to
Phase
III
of
the
Cooling
Water
Intake
Structure
(
CWIS)
rulemaking
under
Section
316(
b)
of
the
Clean
Water
Act.
I
have
consulted
with
Meg
McCarthy
of
the
American
Forest
&
Paper
Association
in
the
preparation
of
these
comments,
as
she
attended
the
outreach
meeting
EPA
held
last
month.
While
I
am
writing
these
comments
from
the
perspective
of
a
small
business,
the
alternatives
proposed
within
these
comments
could
be
applied
more
generally
to
all
Phase
III
facilities
since,
on
the
whole,
these
facilities'
cooling
water
intake
structures
have
not
been
identified
as
causing
adverse
environmental
impacts.

As
a
small
business,
Port
Townsend
Paper
is
concerned
about
the
potential
costs
and
burdens
that
may
be
imposed
by
the
Phase
III
rulemaking.
Port
Townsend
Paper,
like
many
small
paper
manufacturers,
currently
is
facing
significant
economic
challenges.
The
recent
economic
slump
and
shifting
markets
resulted
in
the
closure
of
our
two
bag
plants
and
the
loss
of
over
200
jobs.
In
addition,
the
weak
global
economy
has
limited
sales
overseas.
While
there
has
been
an
upturn
in
the
global
and
domestic
markets
recently,
we
still
have
not
seen
a
significant
improvement
in
our
businesses.
Capital
expenditure
has
been
restricted
and
further
downsizing
of
our
remaining
personnel
has
occurred.
Our
limited
resources
must
be
spent
wisely
to
insure
our
continued
existence.
Any
additional
costs
will
only
exacerbate
that
economic
challenge.
For
example,
the
initial
capital
cost
of
retrofitting
a
facility
with
an
intake
technology
plus
the
compliance
costs
of
annual
monitoring
and
reporting,
as
estimated
by
the
EPA,
would
pose
a
substantial
financial
burden
on
small
businesses
such
as
Port
Townsend
Paper.
2
Additionally,
according
to
the
Small
Business
Administration's
analysis
of
the
benefits
and
costs
of
some
of
the
regulatory
alternatives
for
the
Phase
III
rulemaking,
the
permitting,
monitoring
and
reporting
costs
were
considerably
greater
than
the
capital
costs
and
operating
costs
of
the
technologies
used
to
minimize
environmental
impact.
SBA
also
indicates
that
the
cost­
benefit
ratio
for
the
rulemaking
would
improve
if
regulatory
alternatives
were
adopted
that
deregulate
smaller
facilities,
eliminating
cumbersome
regulations
on
small
entities
that
provide
few
environmental
benefits
per
dollar
invested.

Our
comments
are
premised
on
the
notion
that
despite
decades
of
operation,
the
cooling
water
intake
structures
operated
by
Port
Townsend
Paper
and
other
Phase
III
facilities
are
not
thought
to
present
an
adverse
environmental
impact
to
the
aquatic
resources
located
near
those
intakes.
Port
Townsend
Paper
would
support
the
following
regulatory
approaches
for
the
Phase
III
rulemaking
that
take
this
into
account.

1.
EPA
should
consider
not
applying
comprehensive
national
regulations
to
all
Phase
III
facilities.
There
are
several
alternatives
that
EPA
could
utilize
to
determine
which
facilities
would
be
regulated.
Options
include:

 
EPA
should
focus
the
Phase
III
rulemaking
only
on
facilities
with
a
reasonable
likelihood
of
causing
adverse
environmental
impact
(
AEI)
through
cooling
water
withdrawals.
As
an
initial
matter,
EPA
should
establish
one
or
more
applicability
thresholds
and
exempt
from
the
scope
of
the
rulemaking,
facilities
that
do
not
fall
within
those
thresholds.
The
authority
to
seek
additional
studies
or
impose
additional
requirements
should
be
appropriately
limited.
Stakeholders
have
suggested
various
de
minimus
applicability
thresholds
ranging
from
10­
250
mgd.
For
example,
SBA
suggests
that
facilities
withdrawing
less
than
20
million
gallons
per
day
(
mgd)
should
be
outside
the
scope
of
the
rulemaking,
absent
some
unusual
site­
specific
factor
that
would
cause
a
permit
writer
to
seek
additional
study
or
impose
additional
requirements.
Further
investigation
into
the
costs
and
benefits
of
each
of
the
various
threshold
levels
should
be
conducted.

 
Additionally,
if
EPA
uses
the
amount
of
water
withdrawal
as
an
applicability
criterion,
Port
Townsend
Paper
suggests
that
EPA
base
that
criterion
on
actual
intake
flow,
as
opposed
to
the
design
intake
flow.
Many
manufacturers,
including
small
businesses,
are
already
functioning
with
lower
intake
and
discharge
volumes
as
required
by
their
NPDES
permits
or
have
a
demonstrated
track
record
of
lower
water
withdrawal.
By
basing
the
flow
threshold
on
design
intake
without
considering
that
the
actual
intake
volume
may
be
significantly
lower,
the
EPA
is
in
effect
penalizing
facilities
for
conserving
water.
Port
Townsend
suggests
that
the
EPA
utilize
the
more
reasonable
and
consistent
alternative
of
basing
the
flow
threshold
on
past
actual
intake
volume,
not
on
design
intake
volume.

 
Alternatively,
EPA
should
exclude
all
Phase
III
facilities
from
regulation
except
in
those
cases
where
the
permit
writer
determines
that
based
on
available
scientific
data
a
CWIS
has
resulted
in
an
adverse
environmental
impact.
For
those
facilities
the
permit
writer
should
use
best
professional
judgment
to
include
in
the
facility's
NPDES
permit
provisions
for
the
application
of
best
technology
available
or
equivalent
(
see
below)
to
minimize
that
impact.
3
2.
Port
Townsend
Paper
would
support
alternative
regulatory
approaches
for
those
facilities
that
fall
within
the
scope
of
the
Phase
III
rulemaking
in
order
to
lessen
the
effect
of
the
rule
on
small
businesses.

 
Best
technology
available
for
minimizing
adverse
environmental
impact
could
be
defined
by
EPA
as
a
designated
suite
of
technologies
for
facilities
that
fall
within
the
scope
of
the
rulemaking
in
order
to
reduce
the
economic
burden
posed
by
the
considerable
permitting,
monitoring
and
reporting
costs.
Plants
that
agree
to
install
an
approved
technology
would
be
considered
to
be
in
compliance
with
Section
316(
b)
and
not
be
subject
to
extensive
monitoring
costs
and
burdensome
reporting
requirements.

 
EPA
should
consider
regulating
only
impingement
(
not
entrainment)
at
plants
in
appropriate
circumstances.
EPRI
has
produced
a
report
that
shows
that
in
many
instances
a
significant
water
withdrawal
and
healthy
fish
populations
can
co­
exist,
so
the
risks
of
dropping
entrainment
controls
for
plants
in
this
category
are
likely
to
be
small
while
cost
savings
would
be
significant.

 
EPA
should
consider
identifying
industrial
subcategories
that
could
be
adversely
affected
by
the
Phase
III
rulemaking
and
reducing
the
rulemaking's
economic
burden
for
these
subcategories.

Thank
you
for
the
opportunity
to
participate
in
the
SBREFA
process
and
to
comment
on
the
development
of
regulations
to
establish
requirements
for
Cooling
Water
Intake
Structures
at
Section
316(
b)
Phase
III
Facilities.
Please
feel
free
to
contact
me
at
(
360)
379­
2112
if
you
have
any
questions
about
these
comments.

Sincerely,

Eveleen
Muehlethaler
Vice
President,
Asst.
Mill
Manager
Port
Townsend
Paper
Corporation
