(a) The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is authorized, subject to the approval of the Governor, to administer on behalf of the state its own permit program for discharges into navigable waters within its jurisdiction in lieu of that of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The department is also authorized to submit to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for approval a full and complete description of the program which the department proposes to establish and administer under state law, as provided by § 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. To that end, the department and the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission are vested with all necessary authority and power to meet the requirements of § 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the guidelines promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to § 304(h)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, to engage in an approved continuing planning process under § 303(e) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, and to perform any and all acts necessary to carry out the purposes and requirements of the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 relating to this state's participation in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System established under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, subject to all restrictions contained in the federal act and guidelines.
(b) The department shall further have the authority to accept a delegation of authority from the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and to exercise and enforce the authority delegated.
(c) Any public hearing that may be held by the Director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality preliminary to acting on a permit application as required by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and guidelines, unless otherwise designated in the notice of hearing, shall be for informational purposes only and shall not be deemed a hearing before the commission within the meaning of § 8-4-205. No appeal may be taken therefrom.
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