Postponement of Certain Compliance Dates for the Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category

Under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to conduct a rulemaking to potentially revise certain best available technology economically achievable ("BAT") effluent limitations and pretreatment standards for existing sources ("PSES") for the steam electric power generating point source category, which were published in the Federal Register on November 3, 2015. EPA is, accordingly, postponing the associated compliance dates in the 2015 Rule. In particular, EPA is postponing the earliest compliance dates for the new, more stringent, BAT effluent limitations and PSES for flue gas desulfurization ("FGD") wastewater and bottom ash transport water in the 2015 Rule for a period of two years. At this time, EPA does not intend to conduct a rulemaking that would potentially revise the new, more stringent BAT effluent limitations and pretreatment standards in the 2015 Rule for fly ash transport water, flue gas mercury control wastewater, and gasification wastewater, or any of the other requirements in the 2015 Rule. As such, EPA is not changing the compliance dates for the BAT limitations and PSES established by the 2015 Rule for these wastestreams. EPA's action to postpone certain compliance dates in the 2015 Rule is intended to preserve the status quo for FGD wastewater and bottom ash transport water until EPA completes its next rulemaking concerning those wastestreams, and it thus does not otherwise amend the effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the steam electric power generating point source category.