Category: Industry Priorities

Multiemployer Projections Show Need for Program Changes

Posted on by George Sheraw

Absent changes in law, the financial condition of PBGC’s Multiemployer Insurance Program will continue to worsen over the next 10 years. About 125 multiemployer plans covering 1.4 million people are expected to run out of money over the next 20 years. More and larger claims on the Multiemployer Program over the next few years will deplete program assets and lead to the program’s insolvency by the end of FY 2025.

Projections for FY 2028 show a wide range of potential outcomes, with an average projected negative net position of about $90 billion in future dollars ($66 billion in today’s dollars).

If the Multiemployer Program were to run out of money, current law would require PBGC to decrease guarantees to the amount that can be paid from Multiemployer Program premium income. This would result in reducing guarantees to a fraction of current values. PBGC’s guarantee is the amount of retirement benefits that PBGC insures for each participant, which is capped by law.

The President’s FY 2020 Budget contains a proposal to shore up PBGC’s Multiemployer Program. The budget proposes to create a new variable rate premium and an exit premium for the Multiemployer Program. It would raise an additional $18 billion in premium revenue over the 10-year budget window. The proposal includes a provision allowing for a waiver of the additional premium if needed to avoid increasing the insolvency risk of the most troubled plans.

AGC of America is working to make Congress aware of this problem and proposing solutions.

Contact ICI’s Director of Labor Relations George Sheraw (317) 634-7547 with questions about PBGC’s Multiemployer Program.

Utility Excavator Filing Requirement Repealed in 2019 Session

Posted on by Dan Osborn

Excavators contracting with utility facility operators or owners are no longer required to file a statement of compliance with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office as of May 1, 2019.

House Bill 1487 repealed Indiana Code language, which was enacted in 2018, that required utility excavators to file a statement of compliance with their annual registration due to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. The filing required a $30 filing fee. The Secretary of State’s office is working to return filings and fees to excavator’s that submitted after May 1, 2019.  

Comment on Annual Employment Data Requirement

Posted on by Dan Osborn

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) opened up a comment public comment period regarding the annual employment data submission requirement regulation Title 23, Part 140(a). Contractors and state transportation agencies must submit employment data annully from federal aid transportation construction contracts on form PR-1391, Federal-Aid Highway Construction Contractors Summary of Employment Data. This report provides employment workforce data including the number of minorities, women, and nonminorities in specific highway construction job categories. For additional details about the requirements, use of data, and the request for comment, please see the Federal Register Notice 2019-11768.

To submit comments, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov

DOT Docket ID 2019–0022. Comments are due by August 5, 2019.

Review Board to Cover Portland Cement Monitoring

Posted on by Dan Osborn

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has proposed an amendment to Indiana Administrative Code (IAC) 326 IAC 3-5-1(b)(5) concerning the requirement for Portland cement plant kilns and clinker coolers to monitor opacity. ICI published a IDEM’s notice in the December 12, 2018 ICI newsletter. The Environmental Review Board plans to hold a hearing and vote on the preliminary draft rule during the February 13, 2019 Board meeting (meeting agenda).

The Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2019, 1:30 p.m. at the Indiana Government Center South in Conference Room A. The public entrance is located at 10 North Senate Avenue (access from W. Washington Street).

Amendments and Hearing Notices

Posted on by Dan Osborn

The Indiana Register has published the following notices of interest to ICI members:

  1. Continuous Opacity Monitoring Requirements for Portland Cement Plants.
    The Environmental Rules Board will hold public hearing on amendments to 326 IAC 3-5-1 concerning continuous opacity monitoring requirements for Portland cement plants on February 13, 2019, at 1:30 p.m., at the Indiana Government Center South, 10 Senate Avenue, Conference Center Room A, Indianapolis, Indiana. Here’s the Indiana Register Notice. Here is the hearing information. Here is the proposed amended language.
  2. Indiana Department of Workforce Development Hearing Concerning Multiple Indiana Administrative Code Amendments
    The Department of Workforce Development will hold public hearing January 2, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., at the Indiana Government Center South, 302 West Washington Street, Conference Center Room 14, Indianapolis, Indiana. The Department will present multiple proposed amendments. Access the hearing announcement including all the effected IAC code sections here. Here is the proposed amended language.

EPA Considers Permitting Discharges to Groundwater Under the Clean Water Act

Posted on by Andria Hine
Source: AGC of America Environmental Observer – March 30, 2018

AGC Seeks Input from Members on Potential Impact to Their Operations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting public comment until May 21 on several topics related to the question of whether the federal government should use the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program to regulate discharges to (or through) groundwater that hydrologically connects to a “Water of the United States” (WOTUS). AGC is seeking more information from members on how this EPA action may impact contractors that own/operate stormwater infrastructure that “treats” or “stores” water runoff. This would include features that infiltrate stormwater or process water underground such as injection wells, underground tanks, surface water impoundments, retention or detention ponds, artificially constructed wetlands, treatment lagoons, or groundwater recharge and reuse systems.

EPA’s Federal Register notice points out that the courts have approached the question in varying ways. Over the years, and in varied settings, EPA has stated that such pollutant discharges may be subject to CWA requirements. But in the absence of clear and consistent nationwide requirements, the agency has made fact-specific, case-by-case determinations.

Some AGC members report that they use underground storage to allow incoming stormwater runoff to exfiltrate into underlying soils. Under current federal law, if an infiltration best management practice (BMP) is deeper than its widest surface dimension, or has a subsurface fluid distribution system, then it will likely be considered a Class V stormwater drainage well that is regulated under EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program at 40 CFR Parts 144 – 147, required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. See the AGC “Discussion DRAFT” document that summarizes the minimum federal requirements and the relevant language in EPA’s federal NPDES Construction General Permit. What EPA is wrestling with now is whether the agency should also apply the CWA NPDES permit program to discharges to groundwater where there is a direct hydrologic connection to jurisdictional water. EPA has asked for feedback on which connections are considered “direct,” recognizing the uncertainties associated with that term.

AGC Member Input NEEDED

Through public input, AGC and its members have an opportunity to inform a potential future federal regulatory action. Comments are due to EPA by May 21, 2018. Please respond to Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org by April 21.

  1. How would your company be impacted if EPA were to assert CWA jurisdiction over releases to groundwater?
  2. If EPA has the authority to subject such releases to CWA NPDES permitting, are they already addressed adequately through existing state statutory or regulatory programs or through other existing federal regulations and permit programs?

Background: Recent Ninth Circuit Decision

This EPA action stems from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s recent opinion in Hawaii Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui (County). The court concluded that the County’s underground injection control wells are “point sources” that “discharged” pollutants into groundwater that acted as an unconfined pathway that eventually reached the Pacific Ocean—a “navigable water” (881 F.3d 754 (9th Cir. 2018, 2/1/2018)). The wells therefore required NPDES permit coverage, per the Clean Water Act. The court based its decision on the “conduit theory” that unconfined groundwater can act as a point source if it conveys pollutants from a point source into a navigable “water of the United States” (WOTUS). Specifically, the court held that (1) the County discharged pollutants from a point source; (2) the pollutants are “fairly traceable” from the point source to a navigable water such that the discharge is the “functional equivalent” of a discharge to navigable waters; (3) the pollutant levels reaching the navigable water are more than de minimis. Read the full opinion here.

Please direct your comments and any questions to Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org or (703) 837-5332.