After a Decade of Back-and-Forth, Non-numeric BMPs Reign On March 6, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published long-awaited final amendments to its highly contested stormwater management rule, promulgated in late 2009. The amendments withdraw the nationwide numeric limit on the allowable level of dirt in stormwater runoff from active construction sites. They also revise some of the non-numeric or Best Management Practice (BMP) requirements and establish a new key definition for the term “infeasible,” as it relates to the implementation of those BMP-control requirements. This action is in accordance with a settlement agreement reached with construction and industrial trade groups to resolve litigation on the 2009 rule.

AGC believes it is a massive – and unnecessary – expansion in Clean Water Act jurisdiction The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposed their new rule aimed at clarifying the definition of “waters of the U.S.” and which bodies of water fall under federal jurisdiction. This definition is critical to many of the Clean Water Act programs affecting how contractors perform their work, such as the Section 404 Dredge and Fill Permits, Section 402 Stormwater programs, and Section 311 Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures plans.

Let the ‘Voice and Choice’ of the Construction Industry Meet Your Environmental Training Needs With stormwater runoff rules, water and wetlands jurisdiction, and energy and climate change policies making national headlines daily, most construction firms have put environmental issues on their agenda.  If you are unsure of what it is you should be doing to identify, analyze, and manage your environmental risks – as well as the opportunities – then you’ll want to attend the 2014 AGC Contractors Environmental Conference in Arlington, Va., on June 12-13, 2014.

As 2014 gets into gear, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to make some significant regulatory decisions.  The latest EPA agenda includes items from revisions to the construction stormwater management rules for active and completed sites and expanded federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to new rules governing the management and disposal of fly ash.  Read on to identify and evaluate U.S. EPA activities so you can stay one step ahead of new requirements. 

Transparent Electronic Reporting, Fewer EPA Resources May Ramp Up Citizen Involvement The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to considerably scale back its enforcement presence over the next five years. While the agency still believes there is widespread non-compliance, budget cuts mean fewer dollars for compliance inspections and enforcement actions brought by the government. EPA is now looking to technology and citizen involvement to close this gap. EPA’s “Next Generation Compliance” initiative aims to shift the regulated community from paper to electronic reporting and to the use of advanced emissions monitoring. The apparent end goal is to empower the public to identify violations and enforce regulations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scheduled two free webinars on integrating green infrastructure techniques into community and project stormwater programs.  The first, on March 4, will highlight how two communities have used green infrastructure to help meet Clean Water Act requirements.  The second, on March 6, will look at the use of green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff from road surfaces.

On Feb. 11, the deadline for public comments for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) rule on respirable crystalline silica closed. The proposed rule would lower the current permissible exposure limit (PEL) from 100 micrograms per cubic meter to 50 micrograms per cubic meter. It would also require the establishment of regulated areas or access control plans where exposures will or may be expected to exceed the PEL, such as conducting medical surveillance and the training of workers about silica related hazards. AGC and other industry stakeholders formed a coalition of two dozen construction trade associations to formulate a comprehensive, unified response to industry concerns with the proposed rule. The next step in the rule making process is an informal public hearing scheduled to begin March 18, 2014.

Just days after signing a consent decree in a federal lawsuit agreeing to take “final action” on coal ash waste disposal rules by Dec. 19, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this month released a report presenting its evaluation of the two largest beneficial uses of encapsulated coal combustion residuals (CCRs):  use in concrete as a substitute for portland cement, and as a substitute for mined gypsum in wallboard.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing an electronic system for tracking hazardous waste shipments. EPA recently finalized a rule to authorize the use of electronic manifests (e-Manifests); a subsequent rule will establish fees. The agency is up against an October 2015 statutory deadline to have the system operational, per the 2012 Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act. The electronic system will apply in lieu of inconsistent state programs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to survey general contractors regarding their recent renovation, repair and painting (RRP) activities in public- and private-sector commercial buildings.  AGC worked with the “Commercial Properties Coalition” to provide comments on the scope and clarity of the questions included in EPA’s draft Information Collection Request (ICR), as well as its underlying assumptions and burden/cost estimates. EPA admittedly needs more data on whether or not RRP activities in buildings expose the public to lead-based paint (LBP) dust. EPA must first determine that such activities create lead paint “hazards,” before the agency has the legal authority to write additional rules that would apply to building contractors.