SECTION 116.603. Public Participation in Issuance of Standard Permits

(a) The commission will publish notice of a proposed standard permit in a daily or weekly newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the activity that is the subject of the proposed standard permit. If the proposed standard permit will have statewide applicability, notice will be published in the daily newspaper of largest general circulation within each of the following metropolitan areas: Austin, Dallas, and Houston and any other regional newspapers designated by the executive director on a case-by-case basis. In all cases, the commission will publish notice in the Texas Register and issue a press release. Electronic means may be used to transmit notice to selected state and local officials.

(b) The contents of a public notice of a proposed standard permit shall be in accordance with §122.506 of this title (relating to Public Notice for General Operating Permits) except where clearly not applicable. Each notice will include an invitation for written comments by the public regarding the proposed standard permit. The public notice will specify a comment period of at least 30 days and the public notice will be published not later than the 30th day before the commission issues a standard permit.

(c) The commission will hold a public meeting to provide an additional opportunity for public comment. The commission will give notice of a public meeting under this subsection as part of the notice described in subsection (b) of this section not later than the 30th day before the date of the meeting. The public comment period shall automatically be extended to the close of any public meeting.

(d) If the commission receives public comment related to the issuance of a standard permit, the commission will issue a written response to the comments at the same time the commission issues or denies the permit. The commission will make the response available to the public, and shall mail the response to each commenter.

(e) The commission will publish notice of its final action on the proposed standard permit and the text of its response to comments in the Texas Register.

(f) The commission will make a copy of any issued standard permit and response to comments available to the public for inspection at the commission's Office of Permitting, Remediation, and Registration in its Austin office, and also in the appropriate regional offices.

Source Note: The provisions of this §116.603 adopted to be effective January 11, 2000, 25 TexReg 150; amended to be effective September 4, 2000, 25 TexReg 8668; amended to be effective October 12, 2006, 31 TexReg 8380