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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNC0083887_MV-2016-0014_20160124MEMORANDUM TO: Derek Denard FROM: Corey Basinger, Regional Supervis ` THROUGH: Wes Bell DATE: January 24, 2017 SUBJECT: Request for Remission of Civil Penalty Assessment NPDES Permit Number NCO083887 Charlotte Douglas International Airport Mecklenburg County Case Number NW -2016-0014 ROY COOPER Governor MICHAEL S. REGAN Secrekzry S. JAY ZIMMERMAN Director JAN 2 6 2017 fter Quality Permitting Section CDIA attributed the monitoring violations to the contract laboratory's failure to include the BTEX sample container in the cooler and that no environmental damage resulted from the violations. CDIA reported flow on two separate days (same week) during this month and failed to collect the required BTEX samples. This Office does not support any reductions to the civil penalty. GG: PjZD F,t,,e DWR — CIVIL PENALTY REMISSION FACTORS Case Number: MV -2016-0014 Region: MRO County: Mecklenburg Assessed Entity: Charlotte Douglas International Airport Permit: 14C0083887 ❑ (a) Whether one or -more of the civil penalty assessment factors were wrongly applied to the detriment of the petitioner; Z(b) Whether the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation; ® (c) Whether the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident; ❑ (d) Whether the violator had been assessed civil penalties for any previous violations; ❑ (e) Whether payment of the civil penalty will prevent payment for the remaining necessary remedial actions. MRO staff has reviewed the subject request for remission. The permittee asserts that minimal to no environmental damage resulted from the monitoring violations and the facility has demonstrated a good compliance history with the treatment/removal of BTEX'from the waste stream. In addition, the permittee indicated that the monitoring violations were also attributed to the contract laboratory's failure to include the sample container for BTEX in the cooler. A review of the facility's compliance history, from June 2011 to May 2016, reflects a history of reporting and monitoring violations at Outfall 001. The permittee has been issued a NOD and three NOVs for the late submittal of DMRs (8 total DMRs), two NODs for monitoring violations (November 2011 and March 2012 DMRs); NOV for a TSS daily maximum limit violation; and an enforcement for monitoring violations (September 2015). The enforcement ($306.53 total penalty) was paid in full on February 22, 2016. The permittee reported two separate discharge events during this month (same week) and failed to collect the required BTEX samples (monthly sampling requirement); therefore, this Office does not support any reduction of the penalty. Regional Recommendation (Check One) Request Denied ® Full Remission ❑ Partial Remission E Central Office Recommendation (Check One) Request Denied ❑ Full Remission ❑ Partial Remission ❑ Director's Decision (Check One) Request Denied ❑ Full Remission ❑ Partial Remission ❑ Amount Remitted $ Date S. Jay Zimmerman, Director C. A t. WaterResources ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Mr. Jack Christine Charlotte Douglas International Airport CLT Center 5601 Wilkinson Blvd -- Charlotte NC, 28208 PAT MCCRORY Governor DONALD R. VAN DER VAART Secretary S. JAY ZIMMERMAN Director RECEIVED/NCDENR/SWR December 13, 2016 DEC 16 Z016 WQRCS rA00RESVIL LE REGIOP-ML 01--I=I(-,E Subject: Remission Request of Civil Penalty Assessment Charlotte Douglas International Airport NPDES Permit NCO083887 Case Number MV -2016-0014 Mecklenburg County Dear Mr. Christine: This letter is to acknowledge your request for remission of the civil penalty levied against the subject facility. Your request will be scheduled for review by the Director and you will be notified of the result. If you have any questions about this matter, please contact me at (919) 807-6307 or via e-mail at derek.denard@ncdenr.gov. Sincerely, Derek C. Denard, Environmental Specialist Compliance & Expedited Permitting Unit Division of Water Resources cc: Enforcement File w/originals Central Files w/attachments DWR.M oo esville Re'gional_Og(c w/attachments-� State of North Carolina I Environmental Quality I Water Resources 1617 Mail Service Center I Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1617 919-707-9000 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COUNTY OF MECKLENBURG IN THE MATTER.OF ASSESSMENT ) WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST ) ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING AND STIPULATION OF FACTS City of Charlotte ) Charlotte Douglas International Airport ) PERMIT NO. NCO083887 ) CASE NO. MV -2016-0014 Having been assessed civil penalties totaling $296.00 for violation(s) as set forth in the assessment document of the Division of Water Resources dated October 31, 2016, the undersigned, desiring to seek remission of the civil penalty, does hereby waive the right to an administrative hearing in the above -stated matter and does stipulate that the facts are as alleged in the assessment document. The undersigned further understands. that all evidence presented in support of remission of this civil penalty must be submitted to the Director of the Division of Water Resources within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice of assessment. No new evidence in support of a remission request will be allowed after (30) days from the receipt of the notice of assessment. This the ak day of ADDRESS RECEIVEDINCDEWWR DECO 1 2016 Water Ce�fir Quality Permitting Section TELEPHONE 9b1(-3��-�b12 JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST Case Number: MV -2016-0014 Assessed Party: City of Charlotte Permit No.: NC0083887 County: Mecklenburg Amount Assessed: $296.00 Please use this form when requesting remission of this civil penalty. You must also complete the "Request For Remission, Waiver of Right to an Administrative Hearing, and Stipulation of Facts" form to request remission of this civil penalty. You should attach any documents that you believe support your request and are necessary for the Director to consider in evaluating your request for remission. Please be aware that a request for remission is limited to consideration of the five factors listed below as they may relate to the reasonableness of the amount of the civil penalty assessed. Requesting remission is not the proper procedure for contesting whether the violation(s) occurred or the accuracy of any of the factual statements contained in the civil penalty assessment document. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 143B -282.1(c), remission of a civil penalty may be granted only when one or more of the following five factors apply. Please check each factor that you believe applies to your case and provide a detailed explanation, including copies of supporting documents, as to why the factor applies (attach additional pages as needed). (a) one or more of the civil penalty assessment factors in N.C.G.S. 143B -282.1(b) were wrongfully applied to the detriment of the petitioner (the assessment factors are listed in the civil penalty assessment document); (b) the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation (i.e., explain the . / steps that you took to correct the violation and prevent future occurrences); t/ (c) the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident (i.e., explain w — P h1' the violation was unavoidable or something you could not prevent or prepare for); (d) the violator had not been assessed civil penalties for any previous violations; (e) payment of the civil penalty will prevent payment for the remaining necessary remedial actions (i.e., explain how payment of the civil penalty will prevent you from performing the activities necessary to achieve compliance). EXPLANATION: RECEIVEDINCDENIPYR DEC 41 2016 Water Quality Permitting Section 01 REQUEST FOR REMISSION CITY OF CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT NC0083887 CASE: mv-2016-0014 AMOUNT: $296 (b) We believe that there was minimal or perhaps no environmental damage resultant of the omitted testing (i.e., "incident") because of the following: The treatment system for this managed -containment pond has been overwhelmingly effective, and the last recorded incident where any one BTEX constituent exceeded the permit benchmark was in January 2013. Given this rare occurrence (one time in the past 43 months), it is statistically unlikely that BTEX contaminated water was discharged from the premises and into local surface waters. • The sedimentation and pump filters are changed on a regular (monthly) basis, and the Airport has a contractor scheduled to come to the facility next week beginning November 21St to replace the Carbon within the GAC treatment canisters. • The follow up sampling was performed nearly as soon as practical after the violation. Although many days elapsed between the sample collection deadline of June 30 and August 7th, it is important to note that the pond is a managed and metered containment structure from which discharge is (or can be) routinely manually controlled. It is a fact that no discharge of water occurred from July 4th through early August. • Follow-up water wastewater samples collected in August exhibited no BTEX analytes. (c) As mentioned in our October 24th correspondence, the cooler provided to our contractor (Mr. James Smith) by Prism Laboratories, did not include the 40 milliliter VOA containers that would have been needed to collect, transport, and analyze the samples for the EPA Method 8260 volatile organic compound analysis. While it might have been possible to acquire the needed glassware prior to the end of the day expiring, this does not seem to have been an option based on our conversations with the technician. Since Mr. Smith was on site the last day of the month, collecting the sample the following day would not seem to fulfill the permit technical requirement any more than returning to the site to collect the sample on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th or several days later. Mr. Smith has performed the sampling since 2001, and the Airport also has a long standing relationship with Prism Laboratories. While there has been an occurrence of missed sampling at Outfall 001, and admittedly other minor violations over the years, this is an isolated incident that was unexpected and at least in part, the fault of the laboratory. In the future, the Airport has committed to receiving the sample containers here at our administrative office for inspection prior to delivery of the glassware to Mr. Smith. We believe by doing so that monitoring violations due to lack of equipment can be eliminated. The Airport has made considerable effort to do that which is necessary to comply with the sampling schedule and the benchmarks noted by the expired permit. The pond has been drained and cleaned 2 times within the past 6 years, sediment filters are changed once per month, and next week (as stated), the GAC columns which are integral to the overall treatment of the discharge will be drained, cleaned, and overhauled with new carbon media. These actions are being done at considerable costs and effort (>$10,000 + labor + disposal costs) to ensure the GAC treatment system operates at its optimal performance. Because of reasons cited, we respectfully ask for remission of the Civil Assessment against the City of Charlotte, in the amount of $296 1 M ATTACHMENT A City of Charlotte CASE NUMBER: MV -2016-0014 PERMIT: NCO083887 REGION: Mooresville FACILITY: Charlotte Douglas International Airport COUNTY: Mecklenburg MONITORING VIOLATION(S) SAMPLE LOCATION: Outfall 001 - Effluent Violation Report Unit of Limit. Calculated % Over Violation Date Month/Yr Parameter Frequency Measure Value Value Limit Type 6/30/2016 6-2016 Benzene Monthly ugA Frequency Violation' 6/30/2016 6-2016 Ethylbenzene Monthly ugA Frequency Violation 6/30/2016 6-2016 Toluene Monthly ug/I Frequency Violation 6/30/2016 6-2016 Xylene (mix of m+o+p) Monthly ug/I Frequency Violation a Penalty Amount $50.00 $70.00 $50.00 $25.00