The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comments on a proposed Clean Water Act Construction General Permit (CGP) for storm water discharges on construction sites in states where it is the permitting authority. The deadline is June 24.

EPA staff members will be on hand to discuss the CGP and other topics at a meeting of the Environmental Issues Committee during NAHB's spring board meeting on Thursday, May 19, 8:15-9:15 a.m. at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Wilson A, Mezzanine Level.

The EPA is the permitting authority in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Idaho; Washington, D.C.; most territories; and most Indian country lands.

States use the CGP as a model when revising their own permits, making the language used by the EPA on effluent limitation guideline (ELG) permits highly important.

Although the current CGP will expire by June 30, the EPA has proposed extending the deadline until Jan. 31, 2012, to provide the agency enough time to finalize the new permit.

Comments on the EPA’s request to extend the existing permit are due by May 25.

The agency has been extending the permit renewal deadline since 2008 to coordinate the permit revision with ELGs now being developed.

Many of the proposed CGP permit requirements implement the new ELGs, along with source performance standards for the construction and development industry that became effective Feb. 1, 2010.

The EPA’s draft permit incorporates the requirements for sediment and erosion controls and soil stabilization — including, for example, a 50-foot buffer or equivalent control to protect surface waters.

The draft also includes sampling requirements for the technology-based numeric effluent limit. The CGP has a placeholder for the actual limit, which has yet to be established by the EPA.

The EPA has included additional monitoring requirements for water quality-based effluent limits in areas where the construction site discharges to bodies of water that require additional protection. Provisions for mandatory electronic filing of the permit’s Notice of Intent have also been included.

NAHB will submit comments on the extension of the CGP and the proposed changes.  

Comments on the proposed general permit — identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0782 — may be submitted by accessing EPA's docket at www.regulations.gov and following the online instructions.

Comments on the proposed extension modification to the 2008 permit may be submitted the same way, but should refer to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0238.

For an NAHB factsheet on the CGP, click here.

For more information, email Ty Asfaw at NAHB, or call her 800-368-5242 x8124.