(a)

1. (1) The following regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency are hereby adopted as provisions of this part as though set forth herein line for line and word for word of the most current version of the Code of Federal Regulations with the exception that, and unless the context otherwise dictates, all references therein to “Administrator”, “Regional Administrator”, “Director”, or “State Director” shall be considered references to the “Director of the Division of Environmental Quality”, and all references to the “United States Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” shall be considered references to the “Division of Environmental Quality”.

2. (2)

   1. (A) All references elsewhere in this part to any of the following regulations shall constitute a reference to the regulation as herein adopted, and provided that the effective date of provisions adopted herein by reference as provisions of this part shall be the date when the provisions are specified as being effective by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission in its rulemaking, and the effective date of the federal regulations adopted herein shall have no bearing on the effective date of any provisions of this part.
   2. (B) Portions of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations adopted verbatim:

(i) Part 116;

1. (ii) Part 117;

   1. (iii) Subparts A, B, C, and D of Part 122 with the following exceptions:

(b) (b) Section 122.7(a);

1. (c) (c) Section 122.21(l);

   1. (d) (d) Section 122.29(c) and (d); and

(e) (e) Section 122.49;

1. (iv) The following sections, only, of Part 123:

(b) (b) Section 123.26(d);

1. (c) (c) Section 123.27(d);

   1. (d) (d) Section 123.41(a); and

(e) (e) Section 123.62(e);

1. (v) The following sections, only, of Part 124:

(b) (b) Section 124.3(a);

1. (c) (c) Section 124.5(a), (c), (d), and (f);

   1. (d) (d) Section 124.6(a), (c), (d), and (e);

(h) (h) Section 124.10(b), (c), (d), and (e);

1. (i) (i) Section 124.11;

(k) (k) Section 124.13;

1. (l) (l) Section 124.14;

   1. (m) (m) Section 124.17(a) and (c);

(r) (r) Section 124.62;

1. (vi) Subparts A, B, C, D, H, I, J, K, and L, only, of Part 125;

   1. (vii) Part 127;

      1. (viii) Part 129;
      2. (ix) Part 133;
      3. (x) Part 136;
      4. (xi) Part 257; and
      5. (xii) Parts 400 – 471.
   2. (C) All as adopted as final rules (including interim final rules and technical amendments) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency on or before January 1, 2024.

(b)

1. (1) The director, within one hundred eighty (180) days after the date of promulgation of any new or revised federal NPDES regulations, shall conduct rulemaking procedures with reference to this part necessary to maintain a state NPDES program as stringent as the federal program.
2. (2) The new or revised federal regulations, upon their publication as final rules by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, shall constitute minimum guidelines to the director in formulating rulemaking proposals to this part, but shall not be construed to limit or interfere with the adoption of provisions more stringent than federal regulations.