Impact on NPDES VGP activities
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued anotice advising of the impact of the government shutdown on the Vessel General Permit (VGP) Notice of Intent (NOI) system.
Regarding the NOI system, launch date was moved forward to 30th September and is now available for use. However, by doing so, the final bug checks andformatting review were skipped.
EPA advises
“Please note that there will be no customer support available during agovernment shutdown. Please feel free to begin using the system as you see fit: however, please bepatient with us if you have problems and be aware that customer support is not available during theshutdown.”
The web seminar previously scheduled for 10 October has been cancelled
“We have cancelled the web seminar currently scheduled for October 10 that was to be an overview ofthe VGP. That will be rescheduled during one of the later seminar dates. Provided the governmentreopens by October 11, we plan to hold the seminar for October 17 on how to use the NOIsystem”
The shutdown results in a certain amount of time lost due to shutdown andstart up activities. Irrespective of the length of any shutdown, products and tools currently scheduled tobe released in October and November to assist in permit implementation will face minor delays. Thosedelays will increase with the length of the shutdown.
EPA announcement concludes asking for patience as work is doen on clearing anybacklog and getting back to normal.
