Last Chance To Comment on EPA's Plan To Set Strict Discharge Limits For Construction Site Runoff

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed tighter controls on stormwater discharges from construction sites - called effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) - which could cost the industry nearly $2 billion annually. Use AGC's Regulatory Action Center to submit customized comments to EPA today! The construction industry may comment only until February 26, 2009. The proposed ELG tells contractors how to control sediment discharges from their sites, and EPA is currently under a court order to publish a final ELG by Dec.1.  EPA's "preferred" approach would cost the industry nearly $2 billion annually, which amounts to about $7,000 per acre, according to EPA estimates (but AGC experts estimate that site operators would actually spend about $20,000 per acre to monitor and chemically treat + filter their stormwater runoff). While EPA is considering three regulatory options, AGC supports only the first with some clarification.  Option one, prescriptive sediment and erosion controls, would build upon the significant environmental progress made to date and require site operators to adhere to EPA's list of effective practices for erosion and sediment control. The other two options would impose a strict and extremely low compliance limit on the amount of sediment that may be present in stormwater runoff.  Construction site operators would need to monitor their stormwater runoff and use active chemical treatment and filtration systems (ATS), which are extremely expensive, unproven on a national scale and not guaranteed to comply with the proposed nationwide legal limit of 13 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units) for turbidity. Once finalized, the new regulations will be incorporated into all state and federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for the discharge of stormwater from construction activities.  The rule will have a direct and significant impact on virtually all aspects of the construction industry. For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at (703) 837-5332 or pilconisl@agc.org.