Tag: General Permit

Public Hearing Notice – NPDES General Permit Changes

Posted on by Dan Osborn

The Environmental Rules Board (ERB) will hold a public hearing through Zoom on amendments to 327 IAC 5 and 327 IAC 15 concerning National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permits. The meeting is scheduled for September 9, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.

Link to notice of Public Hearing.

The purpose and subject matter of this rulemaking are to change the method of issuance of general permits from the current permit by rule process to administratively issued permits.

The purpose of the meeting is to provide for public comment prior to the final adoption of the revisions to 327 IAC 5 and 327 IAC 15. Article 5 is Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment Programs and NPDES. Article 5 NPDES General Permit Rule Program.

Link to the proposed draft.

ICI has participated in IDEM meetings concerning the proposed revisions. Please contact Dan Osborn with questions.

Submit Comments for IDEM Proposed General Permit for Storm Water Run-Off

Posted on by Dan Osborn

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has invited ICI to participate in an advisory group to review and comment on a draft General Permit for Construction Site Run-Off (storm water run-off). This General Permit would take the place of Indiana’s Rule 5, Storm Water Run-Off Associated with Construction Activity. The advisory group consists of industry and special interest group representatives such as American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana, Indiana Builders Association, White River Alliance, Indiana Association of Floodplain and Storm Water Management and INDOT.

ICI is working with the other advisory groups during the review and comment period and will submit comments to IDEM by Monday, August 21 in preparation for our next advisory group meeting on Thursday, August 31.

  1. Some key proposed changes from the current Rule 5 (327 IAC 15-5) include:
  2. New document format.
  3. Permit coverage includes post-construction run-off measure implementation.
  4. Minimum 50 ft. natural buffer if land disturbance occurs adjacent to waters of the state unless infeasible.
  5. Timeline requirements for inspection after rain events and storm water best practice implementation.
  6.  Inspection threshold trigger – .25-inch rain event if discharging into impaired waters of the state.
  7. SWAPP (Storm Water Assessment Performance Program) – Includes criteria about regular and post rain event site evaluation.
  8. Project Management Log to include, but not limited to, a list of responsible individuals, information about off-site borrow / disposal sites, SWAPP reports, rainfall events greater than .5 or .25 inches in where applicable and all construction plan modifications.
  9. Street cleaning by the end of the work day.
  10. Covering of waste receptacles.

Another important aspect will be implementation timing. ICI will advocate an implementation plan that will minimize administrative burden on existing projects and current projects in the later phases of development.

ICI will continue to publish updates concerning this General Permit throughout the review and comment period. Contact Dan Osborn (317) 634-7547 to review and comment on the proposed General Permit.

ICI and ACEC comment on EPA’s Draft 2017 General Permit

Posted on by Dan Osborn

EPA is preparing to reissue the Construction General Permit. The general permit, issued under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, authorizes stormwater discharges from construction activities. Learn more about it from the EPA or AGC of America.

ICI partnered with ACEC Indiana to submit the following comments on behalf of the industry:

Comments regarding U.S. EPA’s Draft 2017 General Permit
EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0828
Offered by:  Indiana Constructors, Inc. and American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana
Date:  May 10, 2016

Public Accessibility (Online) of Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Information
SWPPPs are fluid documents that are modified to accommodate changed conditions, utilities and multi-phase construction. Public access to the initial SWPPP will create issues for taxpayers, owners, designers, and contractors due to costly delays and production interference as owners/operators, designers and contractors will be forced to respond to unsolicited public oversite and scrutiny based off of initial SWPPP documents that do not reflect the current work site conditions.

Public Notice of Permit Coverage
EPA proposes a new requirement that the permittee’s sign/posting (or other public notice) of permit coverage must also include information informing the public on how to contact EPA if storm water pollution is observed in the discharge. There were 1,725 permits open during 2015 in Indiana. We recommend that the EPA remove this proposed requirement due to the potential inquiry backlog that could be generated from posting EPA’s contact information at every permitted site.

More Frequent Site Inspections
We request that EPA provide evidence that substantiates the lower inspection trigger threshold as observations in Indiana do not warrant such a significant increase in inspection frequency. Decreasing the inspection trigger threshold from .5 to .25 inches is a very significant change. For example, in review of two Indiana locations (Plainfield and Ft. Wayne) and their respective daily rainfall measurements between March 15, 2015 and November 15, 2015, the number of rainfall events over .5 inches were 28 (Plainfield) and 17 (Ft. Wayne). The rainfall events over .25 inches were 48 and 36, respectively. If the State of Indiana adopts the .25 inch threshold, contractors would be required to increase inspections by around 90%, using the example locations. To put this in terms of dollars, the cost to project owners and taxpayers, will be in the millions of dollars per year in Indiana.

Numeric Reporting Requirements vs. BMPs
It is critically important to industry that, in the final regulatory text, EPA clearly state that numeric permit requirements are not mandatory. Industry is concerned about proposed modifications to the current regulations at 40 C.F.R. § 122.34 that would delete the word “narrative” as it relates to effluent limitations, and also delete the additional explanatory text that “BMPs are generally the most appropriate form of effluent limits.” Again, we oppose these changes, which directly contradict CWA intent, fall outside the scope of the court’s remand and are improper actions for this rule-making. We request that EPA retain the above-referenced language in the final rule to make clear that effluent limitations may be in the form of non-numeric BMPs.

Construction vs. Real Estate Development Industries
The construction and real estate development industries are separate and distinct from each other; contractors cannot warrant the post-construction performance of storm water controls that others design, operate and maintain. Storm water BMPs are designed and constructed per known conditions. Future performance of properly designed and constructed BMPs and storm water controls systems can be negatively affected by post-construction modifications to on-site and off-site characteristics. Industry is increasingly concerned about scenarios that would burden the contractor with the long-term, legal liability for the performance of permanent storm water controls after the design and/or construction firm leaves the project.

Expanded and Transparent (Online) NOI Reporting
We will be interested in the ease of use of electronic reporting tools and will be motivated to provide feedback on future EPA drafts regarding this topic.

Thank you for considering our comments.

 Dan Osborn  Beth Bauer, CAE
 Director of Government Affairs  Executive Director
 Indiana Constructors, Inc.  American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana
 One N. Capitol Ave., Ste. 1000  55 Monument Circle, Ste. 819
 Indianapolis, IN 46204  Indianapolis, IN 46204