US EPA Proposes to Issue Two-Year Stormwater Construction General Permit

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. - Massachusetts Environmental, Land Use & Real Estate Alert, May 2008

In five states, including Massachusetts and New Hampshire in New England, US EPA administers a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for stormwater discharges from construction sites that disturb one or more acres of land. In all other states, the NPDES construction permitting program is administered by authorized state agencies. The current US EPA general permit for construction activities was issued in 2003 and is scheduled to expire on July 1, 2008. 

US EPA proposed on May 15, 2008 to reissue the general permit for construction activities for a limited two-year term, using the same permit provisions as exist in the current general permit. The two-year term is intended to give US EPA the time needed to respond to a federal court order to US EPA requiring the agency to propose effluent limitations guidelines and new source performance standards for the construction industry by December 2008, and to promulgate final guidelines and standards by December 2009.  See Natural Resources Defense Council v. US EPA, No. CV-0408307-GH (C.D. Cal., Dec. 5, 2006).  Following issuance of the final guidelines and standards, and within the two year term of the extended permit, US EPA intends to propose a revised construction general permit with new conditions incorporating those adopted in the guidelines and standards.

For additional information on this item, please contact Stephen Richmond at srichmond@bdlaw.com or Krista Hawley at khawley@bdlaw.com.