Ohio Environmental Law Blog : Ohio Environmental Lawyer & Attorney : Joseph Koncelik : Frantz Ward Law Firm : Environmental Regulation, Land Use, Compliance : Cleveland, Ohio

 For over three years, U.S. EPA had been moving toward a seismic shift in how it regulated stormwater run-off from construction sites.  For the first time, U.S. EPA tried to impose a numeric permit limit on the turbidity of water (sediment mixed with water) that leaves construction sites following rain events.   EPA 's efforts are the result of a 2004 lawsuit by environmental group who obtained a Court order requiring development of a numeric standard.

Adjacent is a picture which shows bottles containing various amounts of sediment mixed with water.  The more dirt the higher the NTUs.  The picture is a good graphic illustration of EPA's proposed numeric standards.

Historically, U.S. EPA has never tried to impose a numeric limit to control stormwater discharges.   Rather, U.S. EPA  required the use of  "best management practices" (BMPs) as part of NPDES construction stormwater permits.  BMPs were engineering controls that were designed to collect or limit run-off to reduce sediment loading on streams and lakes.

In November 2008, U.S. EPA issued proposed effluent guidelines that contained a numeric turbidity standards of 13 NTUs.  EPA received a flood of comments questioning the data and assumptions behind that proposed standard.

On December 1, 2009, U.S. EPA issued its final effluent guidelines raising the propose numeric turbidity standard to 280 NTUs.  The standard would apply to construction sites 10 acres and larger.  It also included the requirement to take samples throughout the day.  The average of the samples would be compared to the 280 NTU standard for purposes of determining compliance.

Despite the dramatic increase from the proposed effluent guidelines, industry still was deeply concerned with the cost of compliance and questioned the benefits of such a standard.  Two petitions for reconsideration were submitted challenging the 280 NTU standard.  After raising the technical issues raised in those petitions, EPA decided to stay implementation of the provision.

The EPA submitted a proposed rule to revise the turbidity limit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in December 2010. On August 17th, EPA announced it had withdrawn its most proposal from OMB. , EPA decided to seek additional treatment performance data from construction and development sites before proposing a revised numeric turbidity limit. Next step, EPA will publish a Federal Register notice soliciting data in the near future.

The battle over numeric limits is hardly over.  First, EPA still faces a court order to develop a numeric limit,  Second, on November 10, 2010, EPA issued memo that signaled its intention to shift toward numeric limits for most stormwater permits, not just construction sites.  Therefore, numeric limits are only a matter of time. 

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On April 23, 2010 EPA is finalized revisions to the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program (RRP) that went final on April 22, 2008. 

Under the revisions EPA eliminates the “opt-out” provision that currently exempts a renovation firm from the training and work practice
requirements if the firm obtains certification from the owner that no child under age 6 or pregnant women resides in the home and the home is not a child-occupied facility.

The second major revisions requires renovation firms to provide a copy of the records demonstrating compliance with the training and work practice requirements of the RRP rule to the owner and, if different, the occupant of the building being renovated or the operator of the child-occupied facility.

The RRP rule establishes requirements for training renovators and dust sampling technicians; for certifying renovators, dust sampling technicians, and renovation firms; for accrediting providers of renovation and dust sampling technician training; for renovation work practices; and for record keeping rule.

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On November 23, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new rules intended to control stormwater pollution from construction sites.  The rule takes effect on February 2010 and will be phased in over four years. 

The most significant new requirement is the imposition of numeric discharge limits from larger construction sites.  In the past, U.S. EPA required construction site owners/operators to implement best management practices (BMPs) to control stormwater runoff without monitoring or discharge limits.  Once the new standards are phased in, owners/operators will be required to sample stormwater discharges and comply with a numeric standard for the pollutant turbidity in discharges according to the following schedule:

• In 18 months (August 2011), construction sites 20 acres or larger will be required to monitor and meet numeric discharge limits
• In four years, construction sites 10 acres or larger will be required to monitor and meet numeric discharge limits

From the EPA press release:

Owners and operators of sites that impact 10 or more acres of land at one time will be required to monitor discharges and ensure they comply with specific limits on discharges to minimize the impact on nearby water bodies. This is the first time that EPA has imposed national monitoring requirements and enforceable numeric limitations on construction site stormwater discharges.

There are also impacts to smaller construction sites ranging from 1 acre to 10 acres in size.  The rule will impose a series of mandatory Best Management Practices (BMPs) relating to: Erosion and Sediment Controls; Soil Stabilization BMPs; Dewatering BMPs; Pollution Prevention Measures; and Prohibited Discharges.  Previously, owners/operators were allowed to pick and choose their BMPs as long as they met specified engineering requirements.

Stringency of the Numeric Limits

Dirt particles in storm water discharges typically cannot be effectively removed by conventional BMPs (such as sediment basins). In November 2008, U.S. EPA had proposed a numeric limit of 13 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). To meet the proposed numeric turbidity limit, sites may have been forced to actively treat stormwater.  Active treatment could have included use of chemical treatment and filtration of their storm water discharges.

However, U.S. EPA backed off the stringent 13 NTU proposed limit.  The final rule has a far more relaxed standard of 280 NTU.  EPA decided to increase the limits based upon a flood of comments suggesting the 13 NTU limit would represent less than background levels at some sites and would be nearly impossible to meet.

Even with the high numeric standard, Industry is concerned with the implications of the new rules.  The construction industry is simply not accustomed to being required to take samples and meet specific permit limits.  As detailed on the Associated General Contractors of America, the following could be implications for contractors at larger construction sites:

On all jobsites where the numeric limit applies, the rule requires contractors to collect numerous stormwater runoff samples from all discharge points during every rain event and calculate the NTU level(s). (This may entail taking "grab" samples by hand and performing measurements with a field turbidimeter; however the rule doesn't specify any sort of monitoring protocol or methods - instead EPA is leaving it up to that states to spell that out in their permits.) If the average NTU level of the samples taken over the course of a day exceeds the "daily maximum limit" of 280 NTU on any given calendar day, then the site is in violation of the federal limitation requirement. EPA is also leaving it up to the states to specify applicable requirements for contractors to report on the samples they take of their construction site discharges...

AGC is deeply concerned about the potential impact this rule will have on the construction industry and will provide more information in the near term as we continue to analyze EPA's C&D ELG rulemaking

No doubt the final rule represents a significant increase in the stringency of regulations applicable to the construction industry. 

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In the most recent issue of Builder's Exchange, a construction attorney in my office (Jim Dixon) and I wrote an article discussing asbestos regulations as they pertain to contractors working at a job site. 

The article was intended to raise awareness in the construction industry that contractors can be liable for asbestos violations even if they do not perform asbestos remediation activities.  If you are the the prime contractor on a job or even a contractor given supervisory authority, the asbestos notification requirements could apply to both you and the owner of the building equally.  Failure to perform the requisite survey or provide the required notice in advance of demolition or renovation work is the most common enforcement action taken by Ohio EPA.  As set forth in the article, make sure you verify the owner has complied with the asbestos regulations before starting work at the site.

(Photo: Ktheory/everystockphoto.com)

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