Comments Deadline June 24
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a draft revised construction general permit (CGP) for public comment to regulate stormwater discharges from active sites where EPA is the permitting authority. The revised CGP will replace the current 2008 CGP, which is set to expire on June 30.
EPA concurrently proposed to extend the current CGP through January 31, 2012, in order to give the Agency time to promulgate the new CGP in final form. The proposed new CGP includes significant modifications that would increase the costs, labor, and paperwork burdens and liability for construction site operators tasked with stormwater compliance. States authorized to run their own stormwater permit programs are expected to follow EPA’s lead in adopting enhanced protections. EPA will accept comment on the proposed new CGP through June 24.
Major proposed changes to the current CGP aim to implement the new “Effluent Limitations Guidelines” for the “Construction and Development Industry” (C&D ELG rule), which took effect on February 1, 2010. See 74 Fed. Reg. 62996, Dec. 1, 2009 and 40 CFR 450.21. All permitting authorities (EPA as well as the states) are required to incorporate the new C&D ELG requirements into their construction stormwater permits upon next reissuance. Those requirements include a suite of mandatory erosion and sediment controls, soil stabilization practices, pollution prevention measures, surface outlet protections, and dewatering practices that apply to all permitted construction sites. The C&D ELG rule also for the first time imposes an enforceable numeric turbidity limit on stormwater discharges from sites disturbing 10 acres or more at one time and requires monitoring and reporting to ensure compliance with the numeric limit. [NOTE: As previously reported by AGC, EPA has stayed the numeric limitation of 280 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units) that was published final C&D ELG rule. EPA will propose a revised NTU limit in a future rulemaking. The revised CGP includes a placeholder for the recalculated numeric turbidity limit (as well as corresponding permit requirements for monitoring, reporting, and the acreage threshold) because EPA plans to incorporate the recalculated numeric limit into the final permit.].
In November 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that the effluent limitation rules could add nearly $1 billion in annual costs to construction projects.
Construction sites disturbing one or more acres of land or smaller sites that are part of a common plan of development or sale are required to obtain permit coverage for their stormwater discharges. EPA’s CGP applies in areas where the EPA is the permitting authority. These areas presently include four states (i.e., Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Mexico); the District of Columbia; Puerto Rico; all other U.S. territories, with the exception of the U.S. Virgin Islands; federal facilities in four states (i.e., Colorado, Delaware, Vermont, and Washington); and most Indian lands and for a few other specifically designated activities in specific states.
Other significant proposed permit modifications include:
- Eligibility for emergency-related construction
- Changes to the permit authorization process -Required use of the electronic notice of intent process -New “secondary operator” category -Waiting period to increase from 7 to 30 days for new sources
- New requirements for discharges to impaired waters -Benchmark monitoring of discharges if disturbing 10+ acres at one time and reporting -Tighter stabilization requirements and more frequent inspections
- Corrective action requirements
- More specific provisions on -Employee training and documentation -Inspection protocols and procedures -Final stabilization