The Department of Environmental Protection adopted amendments to regulations governing metallic mineral exploration and advanced exploration and mining. The amendments create a process for exclusion from Chapter 200 requirements (i.e., physical extraction, crushing, grinding, sorting, and storage of metallic minerals), and require ongoing water quality monitoring in cases where an exclusion is granted. See https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/notices/2024/060524.html.
The Department for Environmental Protection proposed amendments to regulations governing air emissions fees. The amendments would remove the 4,000 ton limit per pollutant and exempt a source from invoicing if the source’s only applicable requirement is 40 C.F.R. Part 60, Subpart JJJJ, Subpart IIII, or 40 C.F.R. Part 63 Subpart ZZZZ, or any combination of those, which is required for fire suppression purposes. A hearing will be held July 26, 2024. Comments are due July 31, 2024.
The Pollution Control Board adopted amendments to regulations governing sewer discharge criteria. The amendments align Illinois wastewater pretreatment requirements with regulations adopted by EPA during the second half of 2023, update incorporations by reference, and make non-substantive corrections. See https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/index/register/volume48/register_volume48_22.pdf (pp. 8106-30).
The Department of Environmental Quality proposed amendments to regulations governing individual/subsurface sewage disposal and septic tank cleaning. The amendments would, among other things, remove and replace definitions, revise and simplify septic tank approvals, remove specific requirements for large septic tanks, reduce setbacks to surface water, combine the cleaning of septic tank sections into one section, and simplify the permitting process for service providers. Comments are due June 26, 2024.
The Department of Agriculture adopted amendments to regulations governing conservation districts. The amendments incorporate legislative changes resulting from Acts 690 and 691 regarding the appointment and election of conservation district board members. See http://170.94.37.152/REGS/238.01.24-001F-24500.pdf.
The Department of Environmental Quality announced the availability of the State Fiscal Year 2025 (SFY25) Intended Use Plans and Project Priority Lists for the Base and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Capitalization Grants. The draft plans outline the State Revolving Fund Program’s plan for administering the base capitalization grant funding associated with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and include the general supplemental funding made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 for SFY25.