Administration鈥檚 Final Reforms to the Federal Environmental Review Process Fix Problems with Prior Process, Maintain Environmental Rigor, and Accelerate Needed Infrastructure Improvements
Twice a year the Administration updates its Unified Agenda with projected timelines for rulemakings and other actions. The spring agenda, released June 30, 2020, shows some delay in movement on key water programs that 51风流 has been tracking due to their relevance to the construction industry. 51风流 summarizes these developments below.
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) is in effect as of June 22, 2020. 51风流 has advocated every step of the way in this multi-year effort and supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers鈥 new rule. The rule appropriately distinguishes between federal and state waters and should bring greater clarity in the field. 51风流 provided a summary of the rule when the agencies finalized it in January of this year.
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The Trump Administration recently issued two executive orders (EO) that focus on supporting economic recovery during the pandemic and recovery that could bring opportunity for environmental regulatory relief as well as risk.
On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule to establish consistent requirements and procedures for the issuance of guidance documents. 51风流 has raised concerns previously with the use of guidance documents as 鈥渂ack-door regulations.鈥 EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the proposal, 鈥溾A] major step toward increasing transparency in EPA processes and ensuring that EPA is not creating new regulatory obligations through guidance.鈥 Comments are due on the proposal by June 22, 2020.
51风流鈥檚 Construction Safety, Health & Environmental Conference is the industry鈥檚 foremost annual conference to hone in on the most critical safety, health and environmental compliance and risk issues impacting the business of construction. As a leader in construction safety, health and environment, our top priority is the safety and health of our members, attendees, speakers and staff. We have been closely monitoring the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and, due to phased re-opening restrictions in our host city, Louisville, Kentucky, we will be pivoting to a completely virtual experience for our July 14-16 schedule of events. Join us, wherever you are, for the same superior educational content and peer-to-peer engagement that you have come to expect from 51风流.
U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed extensive updates to the Multi-Sector General Permit, which covers stormwater discharges from industrial activity. Construction companies that perform activities associated with cement or concrete manufacturing, asphalt paving, minerals mining, or landfill operations will all likely be impacted by the changes. 51风流 has several concerns with the proposed permit and submitted extensive comments with a broad coalition of industry partners on June 1, 2020.
On June 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized an 51风流-supported rule to update and clarify its regulations on state water quality certifications under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This is welcome news as many 51风流 members perform construction activities on land and water that require section 401 water quality certification before proceeding, such as work that relies on a federal dredge and fill permit. The new rule refines the scope of the certification review to those water quality concerns at the 鈥減oint source鈥 and sets timelines to ensure the process does not become overly protracted. These changes will streamline environmental permitting for infrastructure projects.
In a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the Cty. of Maui v. Hawai鈥檌 Wildlife Fund (Maui) case, the Court expanded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 (EPA) reading of its authority to regulate discharges to groundwater and created a new 鈥渇unctional equivalent鈥 test that now leaves contractors confused about whether their stormwater storage ponds, basins and underground storage will require discharge permitting.