As of Dec. 19, 2014, if you own or operate a non-recreational vessel less than 79 feet in length (such as a ferry, tug/tow boat, barge, cargo freighter, etc.) in any “waters of the Unites States,” you need to secure coverage under an National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit before you may legally discharge ballast water from these small commercial vessel.

Construction contractors will have an easier time learning how to comply with federal and state environmental guidelines thanks to a new partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the private sector. The partnership between AGC of America, EPA and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) will allow for a significant upgrade to the Construction Industry Compliance Assistance website, or CICA Center for short, association officials noted.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a new policy memo on using numeric effluent limits in stormwater permits in areas with pollutant-impaired waters (to reduce pollutant discharges and address water-quality impairments). AGC is encouraged that EPA has, once again, recognized that a best management practice (BMP) or “adaptive management BMP approach” is an effective means of achieving water quality objectives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Dec. 19 that it will not regulate coal combustion residuals (CCR), including fly ash, as a hazardous substance and by doing so will preserve the future beneficial use of this product in concrete and most other construction applications.  AGC has been actively involved in working to convince EPA that a hazardous designation was unnecessary and would have an extremely detrimental impact on the future use of fly ash and raise liability concerns about its previous use. 

Imagine having all your environmental compliance and sustainability information in one place, easily accessible and customizable for the unique needs of each project. Now consider how such a tool would make it easier for you to share relevant information with the subcontractors working on your project. Environmental programs and management systems are the super-tools that can help make this possible. AGC’s free guides will get you started.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a request for further comment on a proposed regulatory program that would make every construction company’s stormwater permit records, inspection results and compliance history accessible to the public. As previously reported, the proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule would require all construction site operators covered by an NPDES permit to submit a variety of permit-related information electronically instead of using paper reports. (See AGC articles here and here for background information.)

December 15, 2014 l 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., EST Register now for AGC’s Federal Stormwater Update webinar on December 15, 2014, from 2:00pm-3:30pm.  Just weeks ago, a company settled alleged stormwater violations at a construction site by agreeing to pay a civil penalty of more than $110,000.  Protect your company from costly fines, negative press and a soiled reputation!

After years of delay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Nov. 26 that it is proposing to strengthen the federal ozone air quality standards to within a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion (ppb), while taking comment on a level as low as 60 ppb. The current ozone standard, set in 2008, is at 75 ppb.

AGC Needs Your Help Confirming Whether the Cost Estimates Are Correct The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is exploring whether to expand its Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program (LRRP) rule to cover construction work on existing public and private-sector commercial (P&C) buildings. The EPA has estimated how much it would cost YOU to meet its new lead-paint rules under consideration.   However, AGC needs your thoughts on these EPA estimates to ensure they reflect real-world impacts of a potentially huge expansion of EPA’s current LRRP requirements.

AGC Urges Federal Agencies to Withdraw Proposed Rule AGC of America has presented a powerful case for why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) should withdraw their proposal to redefine “waters of the United States,” concluding that it is simply too flawed to repair. AGC filed a comprehensive 21-page letter on Nov. 13 that identifies practical problems with the proposal for the construction industry, based on input from AGC’s members.