As you know, NAHB has been working hard over the past three years to convince EPA not to issue a numeric Effluent Limitation Guideline (ELG) for the construction industry. If adopted, a numeric limit would require construction site operators to install costly Best Management Practices (BMPs), sample their stormwater discharges, and self report their sampling data to EPA or their state permitting authority – collectively adding thousands of dollars to the cost of the average single-family home.
After many months/years of trying to convince EPA that it did not have enough data to support ANY numeric limit for stormwater discharges, the agency has finally admitted such. We have been informed that EPA will soon withdraw its revised ELG rule from OMB and announce a new plan to collect data from the public prior to developing and proposing yet another new rule (something NAHB has been telling EPA it should do for years). Basically, after working with NAHB and our consultants, EPA realized that it could not rely on the ATS (advanced treatment system) data it had because it was flawed and its PTS (passive treatment system) data was suspect, leaving the agency with little data left on which to base a rule (something OMB and SBA also had warned EPA of in January). We are not certain of the timing of this announcement, but we were alerted this morning by both EPA and SBA of the new plan and expect to see an official announcement or Federal Register notice within the next couple of weeks.
NAHB was successful in this effort because of our integrated approach to challenging the rule (both legally and administratively), and our commitment and continued monitoring and participation with SBA, OMB, and EPA as they worked on reviewing and revising the draft rule. Effectively, it pushes EPA back to square one in developing the rule, and will likely mean that the Construction General Permit will be finalized in February without any numeric requirement. It also bolsters NAHB’s argument that a nationally-applicable numeric limit is neither defensible nor practicable and reiterates the need for and value of good defensible data. Finally, this means that NAHB will have to undertake yet another concerted effort to gather stormwater discharge data from the members. It is even more important now that EPA has admitted that it has very limited useful data, giving NAHB an opportunity to “stuff the ballot box” with data that we believe is defensible and accurate. We will be developing a strategy to do so over the next couple of weeks and will likely kick it off at Fall Board (depending on the timing of the publication of the EPA notice in the Federal Register). We will be counting on you to assist in the data collection effort.

Etayenesh (Ty) Asfaw
Environmental Policy Analyst
Advocacy
National Association of Home Builders