The joint rulemaking redefining which waters are jurisdictional under federal Clean Water Act standards, proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), has left the agencies and moved to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). This is the last stage in the federal rulemaking process where OIRA runs the final rule through interagency review one last time before allowing the rule to be published as final in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Compliance has launched a new website that offers some insight into the agency’s future plans and direction for sharing compliance-related information and ensuring that regulated companies follow the law. Prominently featured is the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database, which provides the ability for anyone with Internet access to download data to analyze violations at any of the 800,000 regulated facilities nationwide that are currently part of the system. Forthcoming regulations like the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule for stormwater discharge permits are expected to increase the scope of construction-site data that is uploaded to the system.

The regulated community can expect settlement negotiations stemming from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement actions to become more complex and costly in the near future. The enforcement chief at EPA headquarters has directed agency staff to incorporate advanced monitoring, electronic reporting and independent third party auditing into agreements to resolve alleged environmental violations. AGC expects this to facilitate citizen oversight – and citizen enforcement – of environmental laws.

AGC of America is accepting proposals for a limited number of speaking opportunities for its 2015 Contractors Environmental Conference on September 2-3, 2015, at the Westin Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. We invite you to submit a proposal for a compelling educational presentation on environmental or sustainability issues geared towards construction professionals.

AGC and its industry partners from the Waters Advocacy Coalition met with the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to discuss the federal water quality standards (WQS) regulation proposed by EPA and its interaction with the proposed change in the definition of “Waters of the United States.” Both proposed rules attempt very significant changes to large portions of the Clean Water Act, and AGC and its industry partners do not believe that the agencies are evaluating the true economic costs of either rule, nor are the costs of the changes in either rule being adequately taken into account by the other rule. Taken together, these two rules are likely to give EPA and the states more authority to impose more costly and onerous controls on construction project that may impact water quality or have other “unacceptable” consequences.

In furtherance of the administration’s plan to increase the resiliency of federal actions, President Obama released a new Executive Order 13690, “The Federal Flood Risk Management Standard,” as directed by the President’s Climate Action Plan. Notably, the order expands the definition of “floodplain” (higher flood elevation and expanded flood hazard areas) that all federal agencies must use – and builders must follow – for all federally-approved or funded projects. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is soliciting public input on newly released “guidelines” that will instruct federal agencies on how to implement the new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS).

Members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee held a joint hearing to examine the state and local impact of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed rule expanding jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

Final WOTUS Rule Expected Spring 2015 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development released the final version of the much-anticipated report providing the main scientific underpinning for its “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) proposed rule. As AGC expected, the report concludes that streams, wetlands and riparian areas are connected to downstream waters, and that isolated waters influence these waters also (albeit to a sometimes lesser degree). This final report incorporates feedback from the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) panel convened to review the document.

Refresher Training for Renovators May Move to Entirely Online Format On Jan. 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revisions to the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule that would eliminate the requirement that the renovator refresher training have a hands-on component and extend the recertification deadline for a portion of renovators, so they can take advantage of this change. The proposal would also eliminate the need to pay accreditation and certification fees in the multiple states where EPA administers the program for Lead-based Paint (LBP) Activities (abatement, inspection and risk assessment). In addition, EPA proposes to clarify certain responsibilities for training providers under both the RRP and LBP Activities programs.