OMA Comments on ORSANCO Pollution Control Standards

In response to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s (ORSANCO) recent public notice of its Pollution Control Standards (PCS) triennial review, the OMA provided written comments regarding potential revisions to the PCS.

OMA wrote: “The water quality goals of the Compact are being effectively addressed by the Clean Water Act and the PCS no longer provide the value and impact they once did. Today, the difference between the PCS and Clean Water Act standards can and do lead to confusion for the manufacturing community, and can create complications in the permitting process, where there is often no effective way to question or challenge the appropriateness or applicability of the underlying PCS in specific permitting situations. The more valuable role for ORSANCO today is to concentrate on its scientific and technical information gathering and research. This would allow ORSANCO to provide valuable information to the states in carrying out their obligations to preserve and protect water quality under the Clean Water Act. It would also help promote and coordinate consistency among the states in the Ohio River basin.” 2/22/2018