This notice is scheduled to publish in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 and Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022.
TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
NOTICE OF HEARING
CITY OF FORT WORTH
SOAH Docket No. 582-22-1017
TCEQ Docket No. 2021-1211-MWD
Permit No. WQ0015668001
APPLICATION.
City of Fort Worth, 200 Texas Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76102, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for new Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Permit No. WQ0015668001, to authorize the discharge of treated domestic wastewater at an annual average flow not to exceed 15,000,000 gallons per day. TCEQ received this application on March 23, 2018.
The facility will be located at 11091 Chapin Road, in the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76108. The treated effluent will be discharged to Mary’s Creek, thence to Clear Fork Trinity River Below Benbrook Lake in Segment No. 0829 of the Trinity River Basin. The unclassified receiving water use is high aquatic life use for Mary’s Creek. The designated uses for Segment No. 0829 are primary contact recreation, public water supply, and high aquatic life use. In accordance with 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) § 307.5 and the TCEQ implementation procedures (June 2010) for the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards, an antidegradation review of the receiving waters was performed. A Tier 1 antidegradation review has preliminarily determined that existing water quality uses will not be impaired by this permit action. Numerical and narrative criteria to protect existing uses will be maintained. A Tier 2 review has preliminarily determined that no significant degradation of water quality is expected in Mary’s Creek, which has been identified as having high aquatic life use. Existing uses will be maintained and protected. The preliminary determination can be reexamined and may be modified if new information is received. As a public courtesy, we have provided the following Web page to an online map of the site or the facility’s general location. The online map is not part of the application or the notice: <https://tceq.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=db5bac44afbc468bbddd360f8168250f&marker=-97.53%2C32.7312&level=12>. For the exact location, refer to the application.
The TCEQ Executive Director has prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the facility must operate. The Executive Director has made a preliminary decision that this permit, if issued, meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. The permit application, Executive Director’s preliminary decision, and draft permit are available for viewing and copying at Fort Worth City Hall, Water Department, 200 Texas Street, Fort Worth, Texas.
CONTESTED CASE HEARING.
Considering directives to protect public health, the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) will conduct a preliminary hearing via Zoom videoconference. A Zoom meeting is a secure, free meeting held over the internet that allows video, audio, or audio/video conferencing.
10:00 a.m. – February 28, 2022
To join the Zoom meeting via computer:
https://soah-texas.zoomgov.com/
Meeting ID: 160 257 1453
Password: FW-0228
or
To join the Zoom meeting via telephone:
(669) 254-5252 or (646) 828-7666
Meeting ID: 160 257 1453
Password: 1729905
Visit the SOAH website for registration at: http://www.soah.texas.gov/
or call SOAH at 512-475-4993.
The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to establish jurisdiction, name the parties, establish a procedural schedule for the remainder of the proceeding, and to address other matters as determined by the judge. The evidentiary hearing phase of the proceeding, which will occur at a later date, will be similar to a civil trial in state district court. The hearing will address the disputed issues of fact identified in the TCEQ order concerning this application issued on November 9, 2021. In addition to these issues, the judge may consider additional issues if certain factors are met.
The hearing will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 2001, Texas Government Code; Chapter 26, Texas Water Code; and the procedural rules of the TCEQ and SOAH, including 30 TAC Chapter 80 and 1 TAC Chapter 155. The hearing will be held unless all timely hearing requests have been withdrawn or denied.
To request to be a party, you must attend the hearing and show you would be adversely affected by the application in a way not common to members of the general public. Any person may attend the hearing and request to be a party. Only persons named as parties may participate at the hearing.
In accordance with 1 Tex. Admin. Code § 155.401(a), Notice of Hearing, “Parties that are not represented by an attorney may obtain information regarding contested case hearings on the public website of the State Office of Administrative Hearings at www.soah.texas.gov, or in printed format upon request to SOAH.”
INFORMATION.
If you need more information about the hearing process for this application, please call the Public Education Program, toll free, at 800‑687‑4040. General information about the TCEQ can be found at our web site at www.tceq.texas.gov.
Further information may also be obtained from City of Fort Worth at the address stated above or by calling Ms. Stacy Walters at 817-392-8203.
Persons with disabilities who need special accommodations at the hearing should call the SOAH Docketing Department at 512-475-4993, at least one week prior to the hearing.
Issued: January 10, 2022
Laurie Gharis, Chief Clerk
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality