To: Owners and Operators of Log Transfer Facilities, and Interested Persons

Re: New General Permits for Discharge of Bark at Log Transfer Facilities

On March 21, 2000, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two new General Permits to authorize the discharge of bark and wood debris from Log Transfer Facilities (LTFs). In order to discharge bark, an LTF must have received an authorization under the appropriate General Permit prior to March 21, 2005, unless it holds a current individual NPDES discharge permit issued by EPA. The General Permit for LTF's in operation prior to 1985 automatically applied to LTFs that held Corps of Engineers Section 404 permits issued prior to October 22, 1985. The General Permit for LTF's in operation after 1985 or new facilities applied to all other LTFs and required a written authorization from both DEC and EPA in order to discharge. It should be noted that the latter permit included offshore LTFs (helicopter and vessel transfer) and offshore log storage areas, as well as traditional shore-based LTFs.

New authorizations under either General Permit are not available at this time. If you wish to operate a LTF that had not received a General Permit authorization prior to March 21, 2005 you will need to apply for and obtain an individual NPDES permit from EPA.
Because of the complicated history of LTFs, the General Permits remain somewhat complex.

The following documents remain available for downloading:

General Permits For LTFs
General Permit for LTF's in operation prior to 1985
General Permit for LTF in operation after 1985 or new facilities 

Certificate of Reasonable Assurance for LTFs General Permit
Pre-1985 Certification
Post-1985 Certification

Individual Permits for LTFs
Ward Cove Individual Permit

Please contact us if you have further questions on the General Permits and their implementation: