PDFWAC 173-220-240
Relationship of department of ecology to permits issued by the energy facility site evaluation council.
(1) The energy facility site evaluation council (EFSEC) shall be the state agency to receive applications for, issue, and modify permits for energy facilities subject to chapter 80.50 RCW. Processing of such applications shall be controlled by chapter 463-38 WAC. Application for issuance and modification of permits for all other energy facilities shall be the responsibility of the department.
(2) Monitoring, recording, and reporting activities required of operators of all energy facilities by the terms of a permit issued by EFSEC shall be supervised and enforced by the department.
(3) The department shall carry on an inspection program for the periodic inspection (to be performed not less than once every year) of discharges of pollutants from energy facilities authorized by a permit issued by EFSEC. Such inspections shall determine compliance or noncompliance with issued permits and, in particular, compliance or noncompliance with specific effluent limitations and schedules of compliance in such permits.
(4) The department shall carry on a surveillance program with respect to energy facility discharges for the random sampling and analysis of the discharge for the purpose of identifying occasional and continuing violations of permit conditions and the accuracy of information submitted by permittees in reporting forms.
(5) Enforcement activities regarding the NPDES program, including the levying of civil and criminal fines pertaining to all thermal power plants, whether the permit is issued by the department or EFSEC, shall be undertaken by the department, EFSEC, the attorney general, or the prosecuting attorney, as appropriate.
(6) Nothing in this section shall authorize the department to undertake enforcement or monitoring activities in a manner not consistent with the terms and conditions of any EFSEC-issued NPDES permit.