Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Notice Permitting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
TCEQ remands Buffalo Hills wastewater permit application to ED to review public notice
Summary
The commission granted a request for reconsideration on public-notice sufficiency for Buffalo Hills Development LLC's proposed TPDES permit and remanded the matter to the Executive Director to evaluate whether additional notice is necessary.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted to grant a request for reconsideration and remand the Buffalo Hills Development LLC wastewater permit application to the executive director to review the adequacy of public notice.
Commissioners said the permit's notice materials may not have been published in both Johnson and Ellis counties where the facility and discharge are located. The commission's motion directs the ED to evaluate adequacy of notice and to work with the applicant to require additional notice if necessary before the commission considers outstanding hearing requests.
The application seeks a new TPDES permit authorizing the discharge of treated domestic wastewater with a final-phase daily average not to exceed 850,000 gallons per day. The agenda materials and public comments prompted concerns about whether the Notice of Receipt and Intent (NORI) and Notice of Public Hearing and Trial-type Informal Hearing (NAPTI) were published in both counties and whether publication in different newspapers satisfies the commission's rules.
Because public-notice sufficiency is dispositive to the hearing-request process, commissioners determined remanding the matter for the ED's reconsideration was the appropriate remedy. The ED may require additional notice or request an agenda-setting hearing if it finds the existing notice complies with rule.
Action on the remand was approved by motion and voice vote.
