The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold
five listening sessions in January 2010 in select cities to inform the public and solicit feedback on upcoming rules to strengthen the national stormwater program. EPA is particularly focused on further restricting stormwater discharges from newly developed and redeveloped construction sites. In addition to holding public meetings this month, EPA recently requested the construction industry's feedback on a draft "industry questionnaire" that the Agency plans to distribute this spring to collect detailed financial and technical information from real estate developers and general contractors to guide and inform the new stormwater runoff rulemaking. EPA plans to propose and take final action on its new stormwater rules by Nov. 2012.
In the near term, EPA requests public input on the following preliminary regulatory considerations: establishing specific requirements to control stormwater discharges from new development and redevelopment; expanding the area subject to federal stormwater regulations; developing a single set of consistent stormwater requirements for all municipal separate storm sewer systems; requiring those sewer systems to address stormwater discharges in areas of existing development through retrofitting the sewer system or drainage area with improved stormwater control measures; and exploring specific stormwater provisions to protect sensitive areas.
The listening sessions will be held:
- January 19, 2010, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at EPA Region 5 Office, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604
- January 20, 2010, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at EPA Region 9 Office, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
- January 25, 2010, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at EPA Region 8 Office, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver, CO 80202-1129
- January 26, 2010, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at EPA Region 6 Office, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200 Dallas, TX 75202
- January 28, 2010, 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at EPA HQ Office, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20004
To attend one of EPA's public listening sessions in person, you must register online at
www.epa.gov/npdes/training by January 15. If you cannot attend in person, you can join in via a conference call line; however, the conference lines will be "listen only" and the sound quality cannot be guaranteed. To sign up to listen to a specific session via conference call, please contact Amber Marriott (
amber.marriott@tetratech.com) for the conference call information.
In addition, if you cannot participate in one of these five listening sessions, EPA
will hold a "virtual" listening session as a Webcast on February 3, 2010, from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm Eastern time. After a presentation from EPA,
this Webcast will allow members of the public to call in and give brief (3 minute) statements. Audience members will be able to listen to the Webcast and all public statements using their computer speakers. Information on registering for this Webcast will be posted online at
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/rulemaking.cfm soon.
EPA also will accept written comments on the preliminary rulemaking considerations outlined above and explained in its
December 28 Federal Register notice until February 26, 2010.
More information on listening sessions, the upcoming rule and instructions for submitting written comments, visit EPA's Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/rulemaking.
AGC Comments on Draft Industry Survey to Inform Post-Construction Runoff Rulemaking
As previously reported in
AGC's Environmental Observer, EPA requested comment on its proposed information collection request (ICR) concerning stormwater management, including discharges from newly developed and redeveloped sites. EPA plans to disseminate three separate questionnaires-one to owners, operators, developers and general contractors of newly developed and redeveloped sites; one to municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) owners and operators; and one to state permitting authorities-to collect detailed information about stormwater control practices, local regulations and baseline financial information. The proposed Industry Questionnaire would
require certain general contractors (i.e., those who are selected by EPA to complete it) to provide detailed technical information for up to 10 projects completed in 2009, including project type/size, stormwater management controls and associated costs, discharge permit forms, as well as company-wide financial information spanning the last five years. Construction companies would have to spend significant time, energy and money to complete the survey.
As explained in detail in
AGC's comments, AGC believes the proposed ICR is: premature and unauthorized by law, as it presumes regulatory authority that does not exist; overly burdensome and misdirected, as it misapprehends the role that contractor's play in the real estate development process; and ineffective in gathering data EPA believes it requires.
Specifically, AGC does not believe that EPA has inherent authority under CWA Section 402(p) to regulate all post-construction stormwater discharges, without further Congressional
action. What is more, the construction industry (i.e., general contractors) is not an appropriate target for the proposed ICR, because that industry is not responsible for designing, financing, operating or maintaining post-construction stormwater controls. If EPA moves ahead with the Industry Questionnaire, AGC strongly urges EPA to breaks up the questionnaire to best represent the different parties to the construction and development process. To this end, EPA should better articulate the goals of its potential stormwater regulation, its authority over owners and operators of such sites, and its needs for additional information.
AGC met with EPA staff earlier this week to begin discussing the most effective and efficient method for the Agency to obtain the information it deems necessary to perform its function.
For additional information, contact Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org or (703) 837-5332.