DEC Contact:
Gerry R. Brown, PE
555 Cordova Street
AK 99501
907-269.4874
Gerry.Brown@alaska.gov

Draft Permit Public Notice Period:
Public Notice Start Date: March 22, 2013
Public Notice Expiration Date: May 22, 2013

Permit No.:
AKG315100

Permit Name: 
Mobile Oil and Gas Exploration Facilities in State Waters in Cook Inlet

Proposed Permit Coverage:
Permit Coverage: General permit AKG315100 covers discharge of pollutants from mobile oil and gas exploration facilities in state waters in Cook Inlet. State waters include coastal waters north of the southern end of Kalgin Island and the landward side of the three nautical mile demarcation in the territorial sea. Discharges are prohibited within 4,000 meters of sensitive areas as defined by the permit.

Description of Discharges: Based on discharges applicable to mobile oil and gas exploration activities, the following wastewater discharges are authorized under the permit:

DISCHARGE NUMBER        DISCHARGES DISCRIPTION
001                                    Drilling Fluids and Drill Cuttings
002                                    Deck Drainage                                                                        003                                    Domestic Wastewater
004                                    Graywater
005                                    Desalination Unit Wastes                                                       006                                    Blowout Preventer Fluid                                                        007                                    Boiler Blowdown                                                                   008                                    Fire Control System Test Water                                             009                                    Non-Contact Cooling Water                                                   010                                    Uncontaminated Ballast Water                                               011                                    Bilge Water                                                                             012                                    Excess Cement Slurry                                                             013                                    Mud, Cuttings, and Cement at the Seafloor
019                                    Test Fluids     

Note: This permit does not authorize discharges from fixed oil and gas exploration facilities or development and production facilities.

Mixing Zone: General permit AKG315100 authorizes standard-size, 100 meter cylindrical mixing zones for discharges and parameters as follows:

• Drilling Fluids and Drill Cuttings (001) and Mud, Cuttings, and Cement at the Seafloor (013): The mixing zone applies to Aluminum, Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Nickel, Selenium, Silver, Thallium, and Zinc.
• Domestic Wastewater (003) and Graywater (004): The mixing zone applies to total residual chlorine upon request by the applicant.
• Miscellaneous discharges 005 through 011 as listed above that are chemically treated: The mixing zone is authorized for chronic whole effluent toxicity (WET).
• Test Fluids (019): The mixing zone applies to ammonia, metals, total aromatic hydrocarbons, total aqueous hydrocarbons, total inorganic substances and chronic WET.

Tentative Determination:
DEC has tentatively determined to issue a discharge permit for the activity described above. This permit will replace applicable exploration components of the expired 2007 general permit AKG-31-5000 – Oil and Gas Extraction Facilities in Federal and State Waters in Cook Inlet. 

Public Comments:
Written comments or requests for a public hearing on the APDES draft general permit must be submitted within 60 days of the issuance of this public notice. Please direct written comments to the attention of Gerry R. Brown, PE at the address or email identified above. All comments should include the name, address, and telephone number of the commenter and a concise statement of comment on the permit condition(s) and the relevant facts upon which the comment is based. Comments of either support or concern which are directed at specific, cited permit requirements are appreciated. Mailed comments must be postmarked on or before the expiration date of the public notice.

DEC will consider all comments when making the final decision, and will respond to received comments in a Response to Comments document issued when DEC issues a final permit. The Response to Comments will be made available to the public.

While DEC is proposing to issue a permit for mobile oil and gas exploration in state waters, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is concurrently proposing to issue a counterpart general permit for oil and gas exploration in federal waters in Cook Inlet. The public comment period for the EPA permit coincides with the DEC permit. In addition, DEC and EPA will hold joint hearings at the following dates, times, and locations:

DEADLINE FOR WRITTEN COMMENTS OR REQUEST FOR PUBLIC HEARING   
May 22, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. ADT

If you would like to see any additional supporting technical documents, contact Gerry R. Brown.

The documents are also accessible from the DEC website at:
http://dec.alaska.gov/water/wwdp/index.htm

To receive email notifications about the APDES Program, including when permits are available to review, follow the link below to join the APDES email list.
http://dec.alaska.gov/water/npdes/npdes_email_list.htm

Disability Reasonable Accommodation Notice
The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need a special accommodation in order to participate in this public process, please contact Deborah Pock at (907) 269-0291 or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 within 30 days of publication of this notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.