The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed April 24 a to regulate stormwater discharges from active sites where EPA is the permitting authority.
The revised CGP will replace the current 2008 CGP, which is set to expire on June 30. 聽EPA concurrently through January 31, 2012, to give the Agency more time to finalize its proposed draft CGP.聽 The draft includes significant modifications that would increase the costs, labor, and paperwork burdens and liability for construction site operators tasked with stormwater compliance. States authorized to run their own stormwater permit programs generally follow EPA鈥檚 lead in adopting enhanced protections. EPA will accept comment on the draft CGP proposal through June 24.
Major changes to the current 2008 CGP are afoot.聽 To begin with, all permitting authorities (EPA as well as the states) must incorporate the new (C&D ELG rule) into their construction stormwater permits upon the next reissuance.聽 Accordingly, EPA鈥檚 proposed CGP pulls straight from the C&D ELG rule a suite of mandatory erosion and sediment controls, soil stabilization practices, pollution prevention measures, surface outlet protections, and dewatering practices that will apply to all permitted construction sites.聽 See 74 Fed. Reg. 62996, Dec. 1, 2009 and 40 CFR 450.21.聽 In addition, the CGP proposal includes a placeholder for a numeric turbidity limit (the specific limit to be inserted once it is recalculated and published), as well as applicability, sampling, and reporting requirements.聽 The placeholder accounts for the promulgation of the C&D ELG rule鈥檚 numeric turbidity limit, and for the fact that EPA is working to issue a corrected limit to replace the of 280 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units).
Other significant proposed permit modifications include:
1.聽 Eligibility for emergency-related construction
2.聽 Changes to the CGP authorization procedure
- Required use of the electronic notice of intent (NOI) process
- Introduction of new 鈥渟econdary operator鈥 category for a construction project that has more than one operator
- Increased waiting period for new sources (from 7 to 30 days) from time submit permit application to time start construction
- Sampling of discharges in comparison to benchmark levels, if the site disturbs 10 or more acres at one time, and reporting on a quarterly basis to EPA
- More rapid stabilization requirements and increased inspections
- Specific triggering conditions for corrective action
- Deadlines to fix such problems and document what was done
- Employee training and documentation
- Inspection protocols and procedures
- Final stabilization
- Notice of termination procedures (e.g., new requirement to remove of all temporary stormwater controls and construction materials, waste, and waste handling devices)