PUBLIC NOTICE: TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY NOTICE OF APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION FOR TPDES PERMIT FOR MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER NEW PERMIT NO. WQ0016273001

Publish one time in The Ellis County Press on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

NOTICE OF APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION FOR TPDES PERMIT FOR MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER

NEW PERMIT NO. WQ0016273001

APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION. Clear Utilities, LLC, 5451 Farm-to- Market Road 1488, Magnolia, Texas 77354, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for new Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Permit No. WQ0016273001, to authorize the discharge of treated domestic wastewater at a daily average flow not to exceed 250,000 gallons per day. TCEQ received this application on December 12, 2022,

The facility will be located approximately 0.95 miles southwest of the intersection of Risinger Road and Interstate Highway 45, in Ellis County, Texas 75125. The treated effluent will be discharged to a pond, thence to an unnamed tributary, thence to a second order unnamed tributary, thence to Brushy Creek, thence to Red Oak Creek, thence to Upper Trinity River in Segment No. 0805 of the Trinity River Basin. 

The unclassified receiving water uses are limited aquatic life use for the Pond and unnamed tributary #1 (-0.14 mi. downstream of the pond), and Brushy Creek, minimal aquatic life use for unnamed tributary (second order), and high aquatic life use for Red Oak Creek. 

The designated uses for Segment No. 0805 are primary contact recreation and high aquatic life use, In accordance with 30 Texas Administrative Code }307-5 and TCEQ’s Procedures to Implement the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards (June 2010), an anti-degradation review of the receiving waters was performed. 

A Tier 1 anti-degradation review has preliminarily determined that existing water quality uses will not be impaired by this permit action. Numerical and narrative criteria to protect existing uses will be maintained. 

A Tier 2 review has preliminarily determined that no significant degradation of water quality is expected in Red Oak Creek and Upper Trinity River, which has been identified as having high aquatic life uses. 

Existing uses will be maintained and protected. The preliminary determination can be reexamined and may be modified if new information is received. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and is not part of the application or notice. For the exact location, refer to the application https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=-96.676388.32.47416...

The TCEQ Executive Director has completed the technical review of the application and prepared a draft permit. The draft permit, if approved* would establish the conditions under which the facility must operate. The Executive Director has made a preliminary decision that this permit, if issued, meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. The permit application, Executive Director’s preliminary decision, and draft permit are available for viewing and copying at Ferris Public Library, 301 East 10th Street, Ferris, Texas prior to the date this notice is published in the newspaper.

ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE NOTICE. Alternative language notice in Spanish is available at https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/wastewater/plain-language-summarie.... El aviso de idioma alternativo en espafiol esta disponible en
https: // www. tceq. texas .gov /permitting/wastewater/ plain-language-snmmaries-and-publi c-notices.  

PUBLIC COMMENT / PUBLIC MEETING. You may submit public comments or request a public meeting about this application. The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comments or to ask questions about the application. TCEQ holds a public meeting if the Executive Director determines that there is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator. A public meeting is not a contested case hearing.

OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING. After the deadline for submitting public comments, the Executive Director will consider all timely comments and prepare a response to all relevant and material or significant public comments. 

Unless the application is directly referred for a contested case hearing, the response to comments will be mailed to everyone who submitted public comments and to those persons who are on the mailing list for this application. If comments are received, the mailing will also provide instructions for requesting a contested case hearing or reconsideration of the Executive Director’s decision. A contested case hearing is a legal proceeding similar to a civil trial in a state district court,

To REQUEST A CONTESTED CASE HEARING, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS IN YOUR REQUEST: your name, address, phone number; applicant’s name and proposed permit number; the location and distance of your property/activities relative to the proposed facility; a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the facility in a way not common to the general public; a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period; and the statement “[I/we request a contested case hearing.” If the request for contested case hearing is filed on behalf of a group or association, the request must designate the group’s representative for receiving future correspondence; identify by name and physical address an individual member of the group who would be adversely affected by the proposed facility or activity; provide the information discussed above regarding the affected member’s location and distance from the facility or activity; explain how and why the member would be affected; and explain how the interests the group seeks to protect are relevant to the group’s purpose.

Following the close of all applicable comment and request periods, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for reconsideration or for a contested case hearing to the TCEQ Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting,

The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material water quality concerns submitted during the comment period.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ACTION. The Executive Director may issue final approval of the application unless a timely contested case hearing request or request for reconsideration is filed. If a timely hearing request or request for reconsideration is filed, the Executive Director will not issue final approval of the permit and will forward the application and request to the TCEQ Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting.

MAILING LIST. If you submit public comments, a request for a contested case hearing or a reconsideration of the Executive Director’s decision, you will be added to the mailing list for this specific application to receive future public notices mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk. In addition, you may request to be placed on: (1) the permanent mailing list for a specific applicant name and permit number; and/or (2) the mailing list for a specific county. If you wish to be placed on the permanent and/or the county mailing list, clearly specify which list(s) and send your request to TCEQ Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below.

All written public comments and public meeting requests must be submitted to the Office of the Chief Clerk, MC 105, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087 or electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/comment within 30 days from the date of newspaper publication of this notice.

INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLINE. For details about the status of the application, visit the Commissioners’ Integrated Database at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/cid. Search the database using the permit number for this application, which is provided at the top of this notice.

AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/comment,  or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC 105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Any personal information you submit to the TCEQ will become part of the agency’s record; this includes email addresses. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the TCEQ Public Education Program, Toll Free, at 1-800-687-4040 or visit their website at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/pep. Si desea informaci6n en Espanol, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040. Further information may also be obtained from Clear Utilities, LLC at the address stated above or by calling Mrs. Lesley Reel, P.E., L Squared Engineering, at (936) 647-0420.

Issuance Date: July 6, 2023