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Publish one time in The Ellis County Press on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
NOTICE OF HEARING
Clear Utilities, LLC
SOAH Docket No. 582-25-10508
TCEQ Docket No. 2024-1582-MWD
TPDES Permit No. WQ0016273001
APPLICATION.
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.
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 antidegradation review of the receiving waters was performed.
A Tier 1 antidegradation 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=-96.676388,32.474166&level=18
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.
CONTESTED CASE HEARING.
The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) will conduct a preliminary hearing via Zoom videoconference. A Zoom meeting is a secure, free meeting held over the internet that allows video, audio, or audio/video conferencing.
10:00 a.m. – March 4, 2025
To join the Zoom meeting via computer:
https://soah-texas.zoomgov.com/
Meeting ID: 161 631 4219
Password: TCE58CU
or
To join the Zoom meeting via telephone:
(669) 254-5252 or (646) 828-7666
Meeting ID: 161 631 4219
Password: 5529398
Visit the SOAH website for registration at: http://www.soah.texas.gov/
or call SOAH at (512) 475-4993.
The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to establish jurisdiction, name the parties, establish a procedural schedule for the remainder of the proceeding, and to address other matters as determined by the judge. The evidentiary hearing phase of the proceeding, which will occur at a later date, will be similar to a civil trial in state district court.
The hearing will address the disputed issues of fact identified in the TCEQ order concerning this application issued on November 12, 2024. In addition to these issues, the judge may consider additional issues if certain factors are met.
The hearing will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 2001, Texas Government Code; Chapter 26, Texas Water Code; and the procedural rules of the TCEQ and SOAH, including 30 TAC Chapter 80 and 1 TAC Chapter 155. The hearing will be held unless all timely hearing requests have been withdrawn or denied.
To request to be a party, you must attend the hearing and show you would be adversely affected by the application in a way not common to members of the general public. Any person may attend the hearing and request to be a party. Only persons named as parties may participate at the hearing.
In accordance with 1 Tex. Admin. Code § 155.401(a), Notice of Hearing, “Parties that are not represented by an attorney may obtain information regarding contested case hearings on the public website of the State Office of Administrative Hearings at www.soah.texas.gov, or in printed format upon request to SOAH.”
INFORMATION.
If you need more information about the hearing process for this application, please call the Public Education Program, toll free, at (800) 687-4040. General information about the TCEQ can be found at our web site at www.tceq.texas.gov.
Persons with disabilities who need special accommodations at the hearing should call the SOAH Docketing Department at (512) 475-4993, at least one week prior to the hearing.
Issued: January 22, 2025
Laurie Gharis, Chief Clerk
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
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