The AGC Annual Convention and Constructor Expo is the ideal opportunity to see everything that AGC can do for you and your business, as well as to learn from industry peers and experts on how they are overcoming today’s challenges. All convention attendees are encouraged to attend the March 6 environmental session – “Stormwater as the New Epicenter of Environmental Action” – to learn about and discuss how stormwater, increasingly, is becoming the new focal point in environmental permitting debates and related litigation and federal enforcement.
On Wednesday, March 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., AGC’s Environmental Forum and the Highway and Transportation Division will sponsor a special environmental session at the AGC Convention in Palm Springs titled “Stormwater as the New Epicenter of Environmental Action.” In this session, participants will hear updates on two national stormwater rulemakings and three precedent-setting lawsuits that have bearing on the entire construction industry. Participants also will learn how a federal priority for stormwater enforcement is impacting jobsites nationwide.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to build your connections, grow your business, and get involved – register for AGC’s 94th Annual Convention today. For more information and to register, please visit AGC’s website at www.agc.org/convention.
Background
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"4572","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"150","height":"150","alt":""}}]]Navigating the landscape of requirements to control construction site runoff and warding off incoming disputes are ranked as top environmental priorities by today’s construction professionals. If you are not confronting these issues head-on, you could face thousands of dollars in fines, and put your projects and your reputation at risk.
Indeed, the issue of whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states may issue stormwater permits that set first-time numeric limits on the amount of sediment in construction stormwater runoff remains a heated and controversial debate. Industry groups recently reached a settlement with EPA resolving their long-standing lawsuit over the Agency’s 2009 rule imposing effluent limitations on the “Construction and Development Industry” (C&D ELG). In the settlement, EPA agreed to formally propose revisions to the C&D ELG rule that would withdraw the numeric limit and modify several of the mandatory “non-numeric” Best Management Practices requirements that currently form the basis of the 2009 rule. Per the settlement agreement, EPA will propose these revisions by April 15, 2013.
Also of importance to the construction community, EPA is under a court-ordered deadline to issue a “Post-Construction Stormwater Rule” by June 2013 that will set first-time performance standards for the water leaving newly developed and redeveloped sites.
In addition, stormwater was the center of a recent dispute in federal court in Virginia where EPA was sued by Virginia Department of Transportation (and Fairfax County) for regulating stormwater “flow” as a surrogate for other pollutants, namely sediment. And the U.S. Supreme Court has taken on two different stormwater cases from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The regulatory focus on stormwater permitting compliments the EPA’s enforcement activities, including its national emphasis on nutrient loading from stormwater runoff from construction sites as part of EPA’s 2011-2013 National Enforcement Initiatives. In August 2012, for example, two construction companies paid a $270,000 civil penalty for stormwater violations at 17 different construction sites.
For more information, please contact Leah Pilconis, Senior Environmental Advisor to AGC of America, at pilconisl@agc.org.