Public Hearing, Afternoon

Each hearing will begin with a short presentation about the proposed rule, followed by a question and answer session. Formal testimony will start after the question and answer session. The hearing will conclude once everyone who wants to provide testimony has had the opportunity to do so. Written comments will receive the same consideration as verbal testimony.

This rulemaking would adopt amendments to Chapter 173-224 WAC, Water Quality Permit Fees. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a permit fee system for state waste discharge and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.

General updates to the rule include:

• Adjusting permit fees to match the projected costs of running the permit program.
• Amending rule language to facilitate understanding.

Visit our webpage for this rulemaking to learn more and view the proposal documents.

We write rules to implement and enforce state and federal environmental laws and rules. We follow a three-phase process for rulemaking:

1. Announcement and development
2. Proposal
3. Adoption

For each phase of the process, we update the rulemaking webpage and notify interested parties. We also file notice in the Washington State Register.