News

EPA Sets the Stage for New Stormwater Rule with Green Infrastructure Strategy and Case Studies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a new national strategy for green infrastructure, along with a compilation of case studies that analyze the economic benefits and costs of green infrastructure and low impact development programs.  These actions reinforce the agency’s continuing plan to propose significant changes to the national stormwater program to facilitate the use of green infrastructure in all new development and redevelopment projects. EPA’s new Green Infrastructure Strategic Agenda, published last month, formalizes the agency’s strong and continued support for green infrastructure.  The agenda outlines the actions that EPA has planned to further the growth and success of using green infrastructure techniques to address water quality issues across the country. Pursuant to the agenda, EPA will strive to provide resources and information on green infrastructure performance, implementation and maintenance.  The agenda also says EPA will look to “identify opportunities to align federal programs  to support and finance green infrastructure” – including through the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).  EPA also will explore and highlight opportunities for private investment in green infrastructure and public-private partnerships to reduce the cost of implementation.  From a regulatory standpoint, the agenda also emphasizes that EPA will work on introducing green infrastructure into the national stormwater program—including incorporating green infrastructure language into permitting and enforcement actions.  In addition, the agency has said it plans to include green infrastructure requirements in new stormwater permits for municipal separate storm sewer systems, perhaps mirroring some of the language in its permit for Washington, DC, which includes a retention standard and has been touted as a model.  New National Stormwater Rulemaking EPA’s long-delayed rule to regulate stormwater runoff after construction is complete (national “post-construction” stormwater requirements) will bolster EPA’s efforts to advance the use of green infrastructure techniques to control stormwater runoff.  The agency is expected to issue its national stormwater proposed rule in early 2014. The EPA is bound by a 2010 settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (Fowler v. EPA, D.D.C., No. 1:09-cv-5, 5/11/10).  After having missed several deadlines for the promulgating the new stormwater rule, EPA is apparently still negotiating with the foundation on a new rulemaking schedule. “The revisions being considered for the national stormwater program will likely include performance standards for new development and redevelopment projects based on the retention of stormwater, which would facilitate the use of green infrastructure,” EPA states in its Green Infrastructure Strategic Agenda.  AGC previously reported to its members what we expect to be included in the proposed rule, based on statements and presentations by EPA representatives.  But note that EPA shared in its latest communications with AGC that the agency is no longer considering retrofit requirements for areas of existing development to reduce impervious surface.  Because EPA did not commit to promulgate a rule that would require owners to alter/retrofit their already built sites, 10 environmental groups have filed legal petitions aimed at forcing action by U.S. EPA regional offices. AGC has represented the construction industry’s interests at several face-to-face meetings with EPA Office of Water staff (including a sit-down discussion with EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water Nancy Stoner and nearly a dozen of her staff) on the development of new national standards to control stormwater runoff from newly developed and re-developed sites. Case Studies: Cost-Benefit Analyses Part of EPA’s strategy is to share emerging information on the design, performance, costs and benefits of green infrastructure.  In furtherance of this goal, EPA recently published a report highlighting various strategies and their benefits so that communities can better evaluate possible programs. In its Case Studies Analyzing the Economic Benefits of Low Impact Development and Green Infrastructure Programs (August 2013), EPA provides 13 examples of successful green infrastructure programs that supplement grey infrastructure and that proved to be economically beneficial.    In each case study, EPA provides an assessment of the capital costs, as well as an analysis of the life-cycle cost and benefit cost factors.  Life-cycle costs include installation costs, operations and maintenance costs, and replacement and disposal cost; whereas the benefit costs include social benefits. The report includes a detailed summary of the economic analyses of the programs that EPA evaluated.  For example, some communities identified benefits that include savings at the infrastructure program level and in maintenance costs.  Another community found that proximity to open space lead to increases in parcel value and associated property tax revenue, but there was lost tax revenues from acquiring private property for open spaces. Green Infrastructure vs. Low-Impact Development EPA typically describes green infrastructure (GI) as the natural and man-made landscapes and features that can be used to manage runoff.  Examples of natural green infrastructure include forests, meadows and floodplains. Examples of man-made green infrastructure include green roofs, rain gardens, rainwater cisterns, bioswales and permeable pavement.  EPA often uses the terms GI and low-impact development (LID) interchangeably.  However, to be clear, LID is in fact a land development approach that is intended to reduce development-related impacts on water resources though the use of green infrastructure strategies that infiltrate, evapotranspirate, or harvest and use stormwater on the site where it falls. EPA provides more information on green infrastructure and LID online at http://www.epa.gov/greeninfrastructure. For more information, contact Melinda Tomaino at tomainom@agc.org (green infrastructure) or Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org (national stormwater rulemaking).