June 12-13, 2014 | Arlington, Va. Leadership and management strategies are essential items for any environmental professional’s toolbox.  This year’s AGC Contractors Environmental Conference (CEC) will focus on developing and honing these strategies, based on the feedback received from past attendees and your responses to last month’s survey.  The conference will provide invaluable resources for contractors in the building, highway and transportation, federal and heavy, and municipal and utility markets.  

AGC would like to recognize its members that excelled in the association’s first annual “Used Hard Hat Recycling Challenge” and welcomes others to follow their example.  For America Recycles Day, celebrated on Nov. 15, 2013, AGC debuted a new challenge for members to retire old and unsafe hard hats.  If you missed the 2013 event, put it on your 2014 calendar so you’re ready next time around.

Green Globes May Also be Considered by DOD Agencies The Department of Defense (DOD) may now consider and award projects that include LEED Platinum and Gold certifications. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2012 included a ban on FY 2012 funds for LEED gold or platinum construction for DOD. That ban was extended and expanded in the NDAA for FY 2013, not only to FY 2012 and FY 2013 funds, but all DOD funds whether appropriated or not.  On Dec. 26, 2013, President Obama signed the NDAA for FY 2014, which did not extend that ban in any form.

AGC Comments on Two Proposals to Broadcast Site-Specific Stormwater Control Information AGC recently commented on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to change its general permit that regulates stormwater discharges from most sites that perform industrial activities – called the Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP). EPA’s MSGP proposal would require significant quantities of site-specific data to be submitted electronically, including stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) or SWPPP summaries. This appears to be consistent with a separate EPA proposal – on which AGC also provided significant comment – to require across-the-board electronic reporting in the NPDES program. Electronic reporting increases the likelihood of enforcement, given the increased availability of data and ease of data analysis.

Note Updated Procedures for Conducting ‘All Appropriate Inquiries’ Under CERCLA The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a rule that updates the standards and practices for assessing the environmental conditions of a property prior to its acquisition. Specifically, EPA now recognizes the ASTM International’s E1527-13, Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process, as compliant with its “all appropriate inquiries” rule under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Notably, parties purchasing potentially contaminated property must conduct “all appropriate inquiries” into prior ownership and use of the property at issue – prior to its purchase – in order to qualify for protection from CERCLA liability.

AGC and several other trade groups from the construction, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing sectors met with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responsible for regulatory analysis, oversight, and coordinating inter-agency review. The group expressed serious concerns with the policy, science and economics of the upcoming rulemaking on Clean Water Act jurisdiction.

AGC has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) veto of a Clean Water Act Section 404 (wetlands) permit issued several years earlier by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to a mining company to discharge dredge and fill material. AGC joined with the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Council of Engineering Companies and several other trade associations in filing a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief in support of Mingo Logan Coal Company’s lawsuit against EPA. The brief explains why upholding EPA’s authority to revoke or alter a federal permit after it has been issued threatens ongoing and future construction projects that require Section 404 coverage, not just coal mining.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still collecting applications for the 2013 Construction Equipment Funding Opportunity, a pilot rebate program to help public and private construction equipment owners repower or retrofit their older diesel powered off road construction engines. EPA currently has $2 million in available funding for the rebates. This program is made possible by the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA), which Congress reauthorized in January 2011 to allow rebates, in addition to grants and revolving loans. You may be eligible for a monetary rebate from EPA to help cover the cost of installing DPFs (diesel particulate filters) or doing engine repowers. But you must submit your one-page application form by Jan. 29, 2014 (deadline just extended), to participate in the lottery-type drawing for rebates. Your chance of winning is very good  as only a few applications have been submitted thus far.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that it plans to survey general contractors regarding their recent renovation, repair and painting (RRP) activities in public- and private-sector commercial buildings.  EPA has asked for public comment by Feb. 4 on the scope and clarity of the questions included in its draft Information Collection Request (ICR), as well as its underlying assumptions and burden/cost estimates.  EPA is taking these steps because it needs more data on whether or not RRP activities in buildings expose the public to lead-based paint (LBP) dust.  If EPA determines such activities create LBP “hazards,” the agency will write additional rules that will apply to building contractors. 

After learning that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stepped up its enforcement of the federal Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) program, AGC collaborated with agency staff to present three private webinars for contractors to review the new inspector’s guide and what companies can expect during an inspection. The webinar series reached nearly 400 construction industry professionals and brought to light EPA’s new protocol for helping sites attain full compliance with the SPCC rule as rapidly as possible.