The EPA is extending the public comment period for the draft Construction General Permit (CGP) to regulate stormwater discharges to July 11, 2011, to give AGC and other stakeholders additional time to review the draft permit and provide comments.
AGC had expressed concerns to EPA that it was not providing the construction industry enough time to review the draft and supporting documentation, evaluate the impact on the regulated community and develop meaningful feedback and recommendations for the agency.
AGC Action and Outreach
AGC has conducted extensive outreach to inform the membership of this significant stormwater development and to solicit feedback on the proposed CGP modifications outline below, as well as other related issues. Over the past month, AGC has published numerous newsletter articles, distributed a list of 26 questions for members to respond to, hosted a free members-only webinar on the proposed permit, and conducted conference calls with the Environmental Forum Steering Committee and Stormwater Task Force members.
As a next step, AGC plans to circulate a “template” comment letter for AGC Chapters and members to customize and submit to EPA under their own signature. In addition, AGC will submit a detailed and comprehensive comment letter to EPA in advance of the new July 11 comment deadline.
Members’ input is crucial and will help shape AGC’s comments and recommendations to the EPA on the proposed permit language. If you have strong concerns or reactions to the draft CGP -- or specific experience with the stormwater monitoring protocols and procedures that EPA has proposed -- please email Leah Pilconis as soon as possible so AGC can ensure that your position is well represented in the association’s comments letter.
In a related effort, as a member of the Washington, D.C.-based Federal StormWater Association coalition, AGC has urged EPA to extend the current 2008 CGP through its full term of July 13, 2013, to allow EPA sufficient time to promulgate its “recalculated” numeric turbidity limit and to allow the other issues raised in the newly proposed CGP to be addressed and decided in the public forum prior to being implemented and incorporated into a new permit. Right now, the 2008 CGP is set to expire June 30, 2011; EPA proposed to extend that permit only seven months (until January 31, 2012), and plans to finalize the new CGP in early January 2012.
Stormwater Permit Revisions
EPA’s revisions would change the way contractors everywhere manage stormwater runoff. Even though the new federal CGP will apply only in areas where EPA is the permitting authority – Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and most other territories and Indian lands – it will serve as a national model, setting a baseline for EPA’s approval of state permits for stormwater runoff from any construction jobsite that disturbs one acre or more of land and from smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan of development.
The draft CGP includes significant modifications that would increase the costs, manual labor, paperwork burdens and liability for construction site operators tasked with stormwater compliance. To begin with, all permitting authorities (EPA as well as the states) must incorporate the new, nationally-applicable “Effluent Limitations Guidelines” for the “Construction and Development Industry” (C&D ELG rule) into their construction stormwater permits upon the next reissuance. EPA designed the C&D ELG rule, which took effect February 1, 2010, to control sediment pollution from all construction sites that require a stormwater permit and, for the first time, to impose nationwide numeric effluent limitations on stormwater discharges from larger sites. Accordingly, EPA’s proposed CGP pulls straight from the C&D ELG rule a suite of mandatory erosion and sediment controls, soil stabilization practices, pollution prevention measures, surface outlet protections, and dewatering practices that will apply to all permitted construction sites.
Some of the most significant proposed permit modifications include:
- Establish at least a 50-foot undisturbed, natural buffer area around any waters of the U.S., including wetlands, occurring on or adjacent to their sites, or achieve an equivalent level of protection by implementing alternative measures.
- Before beginning earth-disturbing activities, install and make operational all stormwater controls required under the permit and identified in the site’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).
- Immediately initiate stabilization on exposed portions of the site where earth disturbing activities have permanently or temporarily ceased, and will not resume for a period exceeding 14 calendar days, or for a period of 7 or more calendar days in certain cases. A host of new stabilization criteria must be met under all stabilization scenarios.
- Stabilize all entrance and exit points created on the site for a minimum of 50 feet into the site.
- Avoid earth-disturbing activities on steep slopes (i.e., slopes of 15 percent or greater), unless infeasible.
- Undertake corrective actions for addressing erosion and sediment control installation, maintenance, and repair issues and for addressing sediment discharges within an allotted timeframe (typically 7 days) and in accordance with specific procedures.