The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has for the first time imposed nationwide monitoring requirements and enforceable numeric limits on the amount of sediment that can run off any construction site that impacts 10 or more acres of land at any one time, despite AGC's years-long effort to explain the detrimental effect on the construction industry.
The rule, finalized on November 23, specifies the exact types of erosion and sediment controls that contractors must use, at a bare minimum, to control stormwater runoff on all construction sites that disturb one or more acres of land. The rule will take effect in February 2010 and be phased in over four years. Specific requirements and other details here.
EPA's ruling comes as AGC urges the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to reconsider plans to require the state's construction companies to replace billions of dollars worth of construction equipment as part of their "off-road diesel retrofit" rule. AGC has worked with CARB for several months to show that the economic downturn has already done more to reduce construction-related diesel emissions than regulators predicted. In fact, CARB previously estimated 147,000 pieces of construction equipment would be present in California in 2009, but have only located 103,000 pieces, indicating that thousands of pieces have been sold for pennies on the dollar.
AGC will continue making the case for construction companies nationwide on the harmful impact of poorly-planned environmental mandates.
For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at (703) 837-5332 or pilconisl@agc.org.
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