§ 42-17.4-12 - Renewal of operation permit – Public notice and hearing requirement.
SECTION 42-17.4-12
§ 42-17.4-12 Renewal of operation permit– Public notice and hearing requirement. – (a) Upon the department of environmental management's completion of a draft, amajor Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) permit (asthose terms are defined in the RIPDES Regulations effective March 1, 1993), thedepartment of environmental management shall hold a hearing on the draftpermit. A notice of the hearing, which shall be mandatory, shall be publishedin a newspaper of general circulation within the city or town where saidfacility is located, at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of thehearing, at the hearing all persons interested shall be heard upon the matterof the facility's draft permit. Written notice, which may be a copy of thenewspaper advertisement, shall be mailed to the wastewater treatment facilitywhose permit is being heard, and to the board of certification of operators ofwastewater treatment facilities and, where applicable, to the parties specifiedin subsection (b) of this section at least twenty-one (21) days prior to thedate of the hearing. The newspaper notice shall be published as a displayadvertisement using a type size at least as large as the standard type sizeused by the newspaper in its news articles, and said notice shall:
(1) Specify the date, time and place of the hearing;
(2) Specify the date which the facility filed its licenserenewal application; and
(3) Indicate that language interpreters and interpreters forthe hearing-impaired will be made available upon notice to the facilityforty-eight (48) hours prior to the hearing date.
(b) A copy of the notice of public hearing as published shallbe sent by first class mail to the chief administrative officer of each city ortown, and to each member of the town or city council and state representativesand senators of each city and town who represent an area that is located withintwo thousand (2000) feet of the facility's perimeter.
(c) The public hearing shall have a qualified stenographerpresent. The stenographer shall provide a copy of the transcript to thedepartment of environmental management, division of water resources and to thewastewater treatment facility. Said transcripts shall be received no later thanthirty (30) days after the hearing. The transcript of the public hearing shallbe available for inspection to the general public at the facility.
(d) No defect in the form of any notice under this sectionshall render any granting of licensure invalid unless the defect is found to beintentional or misleading.
(e) The costs of any notice, interpreters, stenographers ortranscripts as required under this section shall be paid directly by thewastewater treatment facility.
(f) The above requirements are to be construed as minimumrequirements.
(g) The above hearing requirements shall take effect as ofJanuary 1, 1996.