Information_Notice_DRB INFORMATION NOTICE NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING
5/18/11 N.Y. St. Reg. Information Notice DRB
NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
VOLUME XXXIII, ISSUE 20
May 18, 2011
INFORMATION NOTICE
INFORMATION NOTICE NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING
Delaware River Basin Commission - 21 NYCRR 860.30 and 860.31 - Amendment to the Water Quality Regulations, Water Code and Comprehensive Plan to Update Water Quality Criteria for Toxic Pollutants in the Delaware Estuary and Extend These Criteria to Delaware Bay.
I.D. No.: Not applicable.
Filing Date: May 2, 2011
Effective Date: Upon filing with each of the signatory parties in accordance with Section 14.2 of the Delaware River Basin Compact and publication in the Federal Register.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (''Commission'' or ''DRBC'') is a federal state regional agency charged with managing the water resources of the Delaware River Basin without regard to political boundaries. Its members are the governors of the four Basin states, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and the North Atlantic Division Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, representing the federal government. The DRBC is not subject to the requirements of the State Administrative Procedure Act. The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that duly adopted regulations of the Commission have been filed with the State of New York in accordance with Section 14.2 of the Delaware River Basin Compact.
Action Taken: On December 8, 2010, the Delaware River Basin Commission adopted amendments to its Water Quality Regulations § 3.30 and Water Code § 3.20 and 21 NYCRR 860.30 and 860.31.
Statutory Authority: Delaware River Basin Compact, New York Laws of 1961, Chapter 148, Approved March 17, 1961.
Subject: Commission Human Health and Aquatic Life Stream Quality Objectives for Toxic Pollutants.
Purpose: To establish a current and uniform set of water quality standards regulations for measuring and managing the ecological health of interstate waters and the tidal portions of tributaries to the Delaware Estuary and Bay and for protecting the health of people who use these shared waters.
Substance of final rule: By Resolution No. 2010-13 on December 8, 2010, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC or "Commission") approved amendments to its Water Quality Regulations, Water Code and Comprehensive Plan updating the Commission's human health and aquatic life stream quality objectives (also called "water quality criteria") for toxic pollutants in the Delaware Estuary (DRBC Water Quality Zones 2 through 5) and extended application of the criteria to Delaware Bay (DRBC Water Quality Zone 6).
Text of rule may be obtained from: The text of Resolution No. 2010-13, the final rule, the comment and response document, and the basis and background document published simultaneously with the proposed rule are available on the Commission's Web site, at http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/toxics_info.htm.
Assessment of public comment: Notice of the proposed amendments appeared in the New York State Register (p. 6) on July 21, 2010, as well as in the Federal Register (75 FR 41106) on July 15, 2010, the Delaware Register of Regulations (14 DE Reg. 70-83 (08/01/2010)) on August 1, 2010, the New Jersey Register (42 N.J.R. 1701(a)) on August 4, 2010, and the Pennsylvania Bulletin (40 Pa. B. 4208) on July 31, 2010. A public hearing was held on September 23, 2010 and written comments were accepted through October 1, 2010. The commission received two written submissions and no oral testimony on the proposed changes. The Commission made minor revisions to the proposed amendments in response to the comments received. A comment and response document setting forth the Commission's responses and revisions in detail was approved by the Commission simultaneously with adoption of the final rule.
Pamela M. Bush
Commission Secretary and Assistant General Counsel
