(a) Public petition requirements apply to initial issuances, significant permit revisions, reopenings, and renewals.
(b) If the EPA does not file an objection with the executive director, any person, including the applicant, affected by a decision of the commission under this chapter may petition the EPA to make an objection. After receiving a petition, the EPA may only object to the issuance of any proposed permit which is not in compliance with the applicable requirements or the requirements of this chapter.
(c) The petition must be filed with the EPA within 60 days after the expiration of EPA's 45-day review period. For general operating permits, the petition must be filed no later than 60 days after issuance of the general operating permit by the executive director.
(d) A copy of the petition shall be provided to the executive director and the applicant by the petitioner.
(e) The petition does not limit the effectiveness of a permit issued by the executive director or the finality of the executive director's action for purposes of an appeal under Texas Health and Safety Code, §382.032.
(f) Petitions shall be based only on objections to the permit that were raised with reasonable specificity during the public comment period, unless the petitioner demonstrates in the petition to the EPA that it was not possible to raise the objections within the public comment period, or that the grounds for the objection arose after the public comment period. The petition shall identify all objections.
(g) If the EPA objects to the permit as a result of a petition filed under this section before issuance of the permit, the executive director shall not issue the permit until EPA's objection has been resolved.
(h) If the executive director has issued a permit before receipt of an EPA objection based on a public petition, the permit remains effective and the executive director shall have 90 days from the receipt of an EPA objection to resolve any objection and, if necessary, terminate or revise the permit.
  (1) In the event additional information is needed from the permit holder, the executive director may request from EPA a 90-day extension to resolve the objection.
  (2) If the executive director fails to resolve the objection, EPA will revise, terminate, or revoke the permit, and the executive director may issue only a revised permit that satisfies EPA's objection.
  (3) The permit holder will not be in violation of the requirement to have submitted a timely and complete application.

Source Note: The provisions of this §122.360 adopted to be effective November 10, 1997, 22 TexReg 10677; amended to be effective June 3, 2001, 26 TexReg 3747