Environmental Management Commission authorizes public notice for Tar-Pamlico wastewater rule amendments

The Environmental Management Commission on Wednesday authorized the Division of Water Resources to publish proposed amendments to the Tar Pamlico wastewater discharge requirements, moving longstanding group-compliance provisions from an informal association agreement into the permanent rule.

John Heissmann, a nonpoint source planning branch staffer at the Division of Water Resources, told the commission the Tar Pam Basin Association has operated under a 1990 agreement that set nitrogen and phosphorus caps and allowed members to remain individually compliant while the association met group caps. "We've had this agreement in place now for almost 30 years," Heissmann said, adding the association currently sits at "70% of their nitrogen cap and 68% of their phosphorus cap." He described the proposed action as codifying those group provisions into rule text, adding definitions and procedural clarity and offering flexibility including use of banked credits and a limited reserve allocation.

Adam Waters, executive director of the Tar Pam Basin Association, told commissioners the association worked with the department over the last 18 months and supports the proposed rule language. Commissioner Keane, who chaired the Water Quality Committee that vetted the package, moved approval of the department's request to proceed to public notice and hearing, including the accompanying regulatory impact analysis; Commissioner Allison seconded the motion. The commission voted unanimously to proceed.

Why it matters: moving the agreement language into rulemaking creates an enforceable, publicly noticed regulatory foundation for permit conditions that point back to the rule. Department staff said no new substantive obligations are being imposed on the regulated community; rather, existing permit- and agreement-based requirements are being consolidated into the rule to reduce future legal risk and to clarify implementation. The proposed rule will also include numerical allocations for individual association members and a procedure for offsets in the event of cap exceedances.

Next steps: The department will publish the proposed amendments, hold a 60-day public comment period and a public hearing, convene a hearing officer to review comments, and return to the EMC in May 2025 with a final recommendation for adoption. The commission and staff emphasized an expedited timeline because the current agreement is set to expire in mid-2025.

Clarifying details: the proposal would allow a one-time use of approximately 59,000 banked nitrogen credits and identifies a reserve allocation of roughly 59,000 nitrogen and 4,000 phosphorus (values reported in the presentation materials); transcript formatting made some unit labels unclear, so the department will provide exact units and source tables in the public notice materials.

The commission did not take final adoption action today; the vote authorized the public-notice stage.