(A) Significant industrial user to apply for permit. All persons who have been determined by the POTW Director to be significant industrial users shall each apply for a significant industrial user permit pursuant to this section.
(B) Significant industrial user permit application. Industrial users are required to obtain a significant industrial user application in the form prescribed by the POTW Director, accompanied by an application fee in the amount prescribed in the schedule of charges and fees as prescribed by all satellite town users. Significant industrial users shall apply for a significant industrial user permit within 90 days after notification by the satellite town or the POTW Director’s determination in § 50.096 of this chapter. The application shall include at a minimum the information required by 15A NCAC 02H 0.0916(c)(1)(A-M). In support of the application, the industrial user shall submit any other information deemed necessary by the POTW Director to evaluate the permit application. This may include reporting requirements under 40 C.F.R. § 403.12(b) and § 50.135 of this chapter.
(C) Application signatories and certification. All wastewater discharge permit applications and industrial user reports must be signed by the current authorized representative of the industrial user’s customer on file with the town and/or satellite town as defined in § 50.002(A) of this chapter and contain the following certification statement:
“I certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gathered and evaluated the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the person or persons who manage the system or those persons directly responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate and complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the possibility of fine and imprisonment for knowing violations.”
(D) Application review and evaluation.
(1) The POTW Director is authorized to accept and evaluate applications for the town and shall give final approval for any applications submitted by any satellite town user of its customers.
(2) The POTW and/or designated staff shall conduct a preliminary review of the application within 30 days of receipt thereof for completeness of information. The preliminary review of the application is not binding on the POTW, who may, at any time, request additional information. Upon a determination that the application is complete, the POTW shall commence formal review of the application.
(3) If the application is not complete, the user and/or POTW shall return the application to the applicant or third-party user with a statement of what additional information is required.
(E) Tentative determination and issuance of permit.
(1) The POTW shall conduct a review of the complete application and of the person’s onsite inspection of the significant industrial user located within the town, including any pretreatment facilities, and may elect, within his or her discretion, to conduct an onsite inspection of the proposed significant industrial customer located within the jurisdiction of the satellite town and shall prepare a written evaluation and tentative decision to issue, deny or recommend issuance or denial to the satellite town of the significant industrial customer’s permit within 90 days following the town’s receipt of a complete application.
(2) If the POTW’s tentative decision in division (A) above is to issue or recommend issuance of the permit, the following determinations shall be made in writing:
(a) Proposed discharge limitations for those pollutants proposed to be limited;
(b) A proposed schedule of compliance, including interim dates and requirements, for meeting the proposed limitations, if needed; and
(c) A brief description of any other proposed special conditions which will have significant impact upon the discharge described in the application.
(3) The POTW or satellite town user shall organize the determinations made pursuant to divisions (A) and (B) above and the general permit conditions into a significant industrial user permit.
(F) Permit supporting documentation. The control authority staff shall prepare the following documents for all significant industrial user permits.
(1) An allocation table (AT) listing permit information for all significant industrial users, including, but not limited to, permit limits, permit effective and expiration dates and a comparison of total permitted flows and loads with division approved maximum allowable loadings of the POTW, including flow, on forms or in a format approved by the division. The AT shall be updated as permits are issued or renewed and as permits are modified where the permitted limits or other AT information is revised.
(2) The basis or rationale for the pretreatment limitations including the following:
(a) Documentation of categorical determination, including documentation of any calculations used in applying categorical pretreatment standards; and
(b) Documentation of the rationale of any parameters for which monitoring has been waived under 40 C.F.R. § 403.12(e)(2).
(G) Final action on significant industrial user permit applications.
(1) The POTW Director shall take final action on all applications not later than 90 days following receipt of a complete application.
(2) The POTW Director is authorized to:
(a) Issue a significant industrial user permit containing such conditions as are necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter and G.S. § 143-215.1;
(b) Issue a significant industrial user permit containing time schedules for achieving compliance with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements;
(c) Modify any permit upon not less than 60 days’ notice and pursuant to division (I) below;
(f) Deny a permit application when in the opinion of the POTW Director such discharge may cause or contribute to pass through or interference of the wastewater treatment plant or where necessary to effectuate the purposes of G.S. § 143-215.1.
(H) Hearing and appeals; significant industrial users; initial adjudicatory hearings.
(1) A significant industrial user applicant whose permit is denied or is granted subject to conditions the applicant deems unacceptable; a significant industrial user assessed a civil penalty under § 50.999 of this chapter; or a significant industrial user issued an administrative order under § 50.119 of this chapter shall have the right to an adjudicatory hearing before the POTW Director or other hearing officer appointed by the POTW Director upon making written demand, identifying the specific issues to be contested, to the POTW Director within 30 days following the receipt of the significant industrial user permit; a notice of permit denial; a civil penalty assessment; or an administrative order. Unless such written demand is made within the time herein specified, the action/decision shall be final and binding and further appeal is barred. For modified permits, only those parts of the permit being modified may be adjudicated. All testimony at the adjudicatory hearing shall be under oath and shall be transcribed by a certified court reporter employed by the town. The applicant shall reimburse the town for the costs of the court reporter. The hearing officer shall make a final decision on the contested permit, penalty assessment or order within 45 days of the receipt of written demand for the hearing. The POTW Director shall transmit a copy of the hearing officer’s decision by registered or certified mail as described in division (H)(3) below. The terms and conditions of a permit under appeal shall be as follows:
(a) New permits. Upon appeal, including judicial review in the general courts of justice, of the terms or conditions of a newly issued permit, the terms and conditions of the entire permit are stayed and the permit is not in effect until either the conclusion of judicial review or until the parties reach a mutual resolution;
(b) Renewed permits. Upon appeal, including judicial review in the general courts of justice, of the terms or conditions of a renewed permit, the terms and conditions of the existing permit remain in effect until either the conclusion of judicial review or until the parties reach a mutual resolution; and
(c) Terminated permits. Upon appeal, including judicial review in the general courts of justice, of a terminated permit, no permit is in effect until either the conclusion of judicial review or until the parties reach a mutual resolution.
(2) Any decision of a hearing officer made as a result of an adjudicatory hearing held under division (H)(1) above may be appealed to the Town Council (or such committee of the Council as it may designate to hear appeals under this section) upon filing a written demand within ten days of receipt of notice of the decision. Hearings held under this division (H)(2) shall be conducted as a quasi-judicial hearing in accordance with agenda procedures adopted by the Town Council or the committee for the hearing of appeals. Failure to make written demand within the time specified herein shall bar further appeal. The Town Council shall make a final decision on the appeal within 90 days from receipt of the demand filed under division (H)(1) above and shall transmit a written copy of its decision by registered or certified mail as described in division (H)(3) below. The decision is a final decision for the purposes of seeking judicial review.
(3) When a final decision is issued under division (H)(2) above, the town shall prepare an official record of the case that includes:
(a) All notices, motions and other like pleadings;
(b) A copy of all documentary evidence introduced;
(c) A certified transcript of all testimony taken; and
(d) A copy of the final decision of the Town Council.
(4) Any person against whom a final order or decision of the Town Council or its duly appointed committee is entered may seek judicial review of the order or decision within 30 days after receipt of notice by registered or certified mail of the order or decision but not thereafter, in a proceeding in the nature of certiorari in the Superior Court Division of the General Court of Justice, Duplin County. Within 30 days of the service of the petition on the town or within such other time period as directed by the Court, the town shall file with the court certified copies of the official record of the hearing as described in division (H)(3) above.
(I) Permit modification.
(1) Modifications of permits shall be subject to the same procedural requirements as the issuance of permits, except as listed below. Any changes or new conditions in the permit shall include a reasonable time schedule for compliance, and the following shall apply:
(a) Changes in the permittee’s corporate or assumed name only, when no other change in the permit is indicated;
(b) Changes in the ownership of the discharge when no other change in the permit is indicated;
(c) A single modification of any compliance schedule not in excess of four months;
(d) Modification of compliance schedules (construction schedules) in permits for new sources where the new source will not begin to discharge until control facilities are operational; and
(e) Modifications to correct typographical errors in the wastewater permit.
(2) Within nine months of the promulgation of a national categorical pretreatment standard, the wastewater discharge permit of users subject to such standards shall be revised to require compliance with such standard within the time frame prescribed by such standard. When a user, subject to a national categorical pretreatment standard, has not previously submitted an application for a wastewater discharge permit as required by this section, the user shall apply for a wastewater discharge permit within 180 days after the promulgation of the applicable national categorical pretreatment standard.
(3) A request for a modification by the permittee shall constitute a waiver of the 60-day notice required by G.S. § 143-215.1(b)(4)c and division (G)(2)(c) above.
(J) Permit duration. Permits shall be issued for a specified time period, not to exceed five years. A permit may be issued for a period less than a year or may be stated to expire on a specific date.
(K) Permit transfer. Wastewater permits are issued to a specific user for a specific operation. A wastewater discharge permit shall not be reassigned or transferred or sold to a new owner, new user, different premises or a new or changed operation.
(L) Permit reissuance. A user shall apply for permit reissuance by submitting a complete permit application in accordance with § 50.098 of this chapter a minimum of 180 days prior to the expiration of the existing permit.
(Ord. passed 10-14-2021)
Statutory reference:
Related provisions, see G.S. § 143-215.1(b)(4)c