[EPA press release - March 2, 1973]

In the first action of its kind in the nation, the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board today issued permits approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to five Indiana companies for authority to discharge treated wastewater into navigable waters.

The announcement was made by Oral Hert, Technical Secretary for the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board, at a press conference in Indianapolis. Federal approval of the permit issuance was given by EPA Midwest Regional Administrator Francis T. Mayo in Chicago.

Indiana is one of 18 States in the nation granted interim authority by EPA to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits under the provisions of the new Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The act requires cities, industry and agriculture to have permits for the discharge of wastewaters.

Joint public hearings on the permit applications were held by the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board and the Federal EPA on February 22-23 in Indianapolis. Public comments on the applications were accepted at the hearing from interested parties for consideration before a decision was made to issue the permits.

The names and locations of the companies are:

• Kitchen-Quip Inc., Waterloo, manufacturer of kitchen equipment which discharges into the Maumee River.

• Kieffer Paper Mills Inc., Brownstown, which discharges into the White River.

• Cabot Corporation, Hayes Stellite Division, Kokomo, a manufacturer of metal castings which discharges into the Wabash River.

• Laketon Asphalt Refining Company, Laketon, which discharges into the Wabash River.

• 3M Company, Hartford City, manufacturer of paper products which discharges into Little Lick Creek, a tributary of the Wabash.

Under the permit system, industry must apply the "best practicable control technology currently available" by July 1, 1977, or must be in compliance with the water quality standards, whichever is more stringent.

All five of the Indiana firms will meet the requirements within two years.

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 provide that EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus may grant interim authority to issue permits to a State which he determines "has the capability of administering a permit program which will carry out the objective of this act."

By law, state interim authority for issuing the permits will revert to EPA on March 18 if final approval is not granted to a state by that time.