ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY RIN 2040-AE91 AGENCY

251 Pages·2009·1.13 MB·English

The Administrator signed the following notice on November 23, 2009, and EPA is submitting it for publication in the
Federal Register. While we have taken steps to ensure the accuracy of this pre-publication version, it is not the
official version. Please refer to the official version in a forthcoming Federal Register publication, or on GPO’s
website at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html, or on EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/guide/construction.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 450
[EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0465; FRL-xxx]
RIN 2040-AE91
Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Construction and Development Point
Source Category

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency is publishing final regulations establishing
Clean Water Act (CWA) technology-based Effluent Limitations Guidelines and New Source
Performance Standards for the Construction and Development (C&D) point source category. EPA
expects compliance with this regulation to reduce the amount of sediment and other pollutants
discharged from construction and development sites by approximately 4 billion pounds per year.

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DATES: This final rule is effective on [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER DATE OF
PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER], 60 days after publication in the Federal
Register.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2008-0465. All documents in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov web site.
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted
material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically through
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of Water Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number
for the Public Reading Room is [phone], and the telephone number for the Office of
Water Docket is [phone]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical information concerning today's
rule, contact Mr. Jesse W. Pritts at 202-566-1038 ([email protected]). For economic
information contact Mr. Todd Doley at 202-566-1160 ([email protected]). For information
regarding environmental benefits, contact Ms. Ashley Allen at 202-566-1012
([email protected]).

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulated Entities
Entities potentially regulated by this action include:
Category Examples of Regulated Entities North American Industry
Classification System
(NAICS) Code
Industry Construction activities required to obtain NPDES permit coverage and
performing the following activities:
Construction of buildings, including 236
building, developing and general
contracting
Heavy and civil engineering 237
construction, including land subdivision

EPA does not intend the preceding table to be exhaustive, but provides it as a guide for readers
regarding entities likely to be regulated by this action. This table lists the types of entities that
EPA is now aware could potentially be regulated by this action. Other types of entities not listed
in the table could also be regulated. To determine whether your facility is regulated by this action,
you should carefully examine the applicability criteria in § 450.10 of today's final rule and the
definition of "storm water discharges associated with industrial activity" and "storm water
discharges associated with small construction activity" in existing EPA regulations at 40 CFR
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122.26(b)(14)(x) and 122.26(b)(15), respectively. If you have questions regarding the
applicability of this action to a particular site, consult one of the persons listed for technical
information in the preceding "FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT" section.

Supporting Documentation
Several key documents support the final regulation:
1. "Development Document for Final Effluent Guidelines and Standards for the Construction and
Development Category," EPA-821-R-09-010. ("Development Document") This document
presents EPA's methodology and technical conclusions concerning the C&D category.

2. "Economic Analysis for Final Effluent Guidelines and Standards for the Construction and
Development Category," EPA-821-R-09-011. ("Economic Analysis") This document presents the
methodology employed to assess economic impacts of the rule and the results of the analysis.

3. "Environmental Impact and Benefits Assessment for Final Effluent Guidelines and Standards
for the Construction and Development Category," EPA-821-R-09-012 ("Environmental
Assessment"). This document presents the methodology to assess environmental impacts and
benefits of the rule and the results of the analysis.

You can obtain electronic copies of this preamble and final rule as well as the technical
and economic support documents for today's rule at EPA's website for the C&D rule,
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/construction.
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Overview
This preamble describes the terms, acronyms, and abbreviations used in this document;
the background documents that support these final regulations; the legal authority of this final
rule; a summary of the final rule; background information; and the technical and economic
methodologies used by the Agency to develop this final regulation.

Table of Contents
I. Legal Authority
II. Purpose & Summary of the Final Rule
III. Background on Existing Regulatory Program
A. Clean Water Act
B. Clean Water Act Stormwater Program
1. NPDES Permits for Stormwater Discharges Associated With Construction
Activity
a. General NPDES Permits
b. EPA Construction General Permit
c. State Construction General Permits
d. Individual NPDES Permits
2. Municipal Stormwater Permits and Local Government Regulation of
Stormwater Discharges Associated With Construction Activity
a. NPDES Requirements
b. EPA Guidance to Municipalities
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C. Other State and Local Stormwater Requirements
D. Technology-Based Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards
1. Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available (BPT)
2. Best Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT)
3. Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology (BCT)
4. Best Available Demonstrated Control Technology (BADT) for New Source
Performance Standards (NSPS)
5. Pretreatment Standards
6. EPA Authority to Promulgate Non-Numeric Effluent Limitations
7. CWA Section 304(m) Litigation
IV. Overview of the Construction Industry and Construction Activities
V. Summary of the Proposed Regulation
VI. Summary of Major Comments Received
VII. Summary of Significant Decisions and Revisions to Analyses
A. Regulatory Options
B. Cost Analysis
C. Pollutant Load Analysis
D. Economic Analysis
E. Benefits Estimation and Monetization
VIII. Characteristics of Discharges Associated With Construction Activity
IX. Description of Available Technologies
A. Introduction
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B. Erosion Control Measures
C. Sediment Control Measures
D. Other Construction and Development Site Management Practices
E. Performance Data for Passive Treatment Approaches
X. Development of Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards and Options Selection
Rationale
A. Description of the Regulatory Options Considered
1. Options Considered in the Proposal
2. Regulatory Options Considered for the Final Rule and Rationale for
Consideration of Revisions to Options in the Proposed Rule
B. Non-Numeric Effluent Limitations Included in All Regulatory Options
1. Non-Numeric Effluent Limitations Contained in the Final Rule
2. Changes to the Non-Numeric Effluent Limitations Since Proposal
C. Numeric Effluent Limitations and Standards Considered
D. Selected Options for BPT, BCT, BAT and BADT for NSPS
E. Selection Rationale for BPT
F. Selection Rationale for BCT
G. Selection Rationale for BAT and BADT for NSPS
1. Selection Rationale
2. Numeric Limitations
3. Rationale for Rejecting Options 1, 2 and 3 as the Technology-Bases for BAT
and BADT for NSPS
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4. Definition of “New Source” for the C&D Point Source Category
XI. Methodology for Estimating Costs to the Construction and Development Industry
XII. Economic Impact and Social Cost Analysis
A. Introduction
B. Description of Economic Activity
C. Method for Estimating Economic Impacts
1. Model Project Analysis
2. Model Firm Analysis
a. Assigning Projects and Costs to Model Firms
b. Project-Level Cost Multiplier
c. Cost Pass-through
3. Housing Market Impacts
4. Impacts on the National Economy
D. Results
1. Project-Level Impacts
2. Firm-Level Impacts
3. Impacts on Governments
4. Community-Level Impacts
5. Foreign Trade Impacts
6. Impacts on New Firms
7. Social Costs
8. Small Business Impacts
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XIII. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
XIV. Non-Water Quality Environmental Impacts
A. Air Pollution
B. Solid Waste Generation
C. Energy Usage
XV. Environmental Assessment
A. Surface Water Impacts from Discharges Associated With Construction Activity
B. Quantification of Sediment Discharges Associated with Construction Activity
C. Quantification of Surface Water Quality Improvement from Reducing Discharges
Associated With Construction and Development Activity
XVI. Benefit Analysis
A. Benefits Categories Estimated
B. Quantification of Benefits
XVII. Benefit-Cost Comparison
XVIII. Approach to Determining Effluent Limitations and Standards
A. Definitions
B. Percentile Basis for Limitations, not Compliance
XIX. Regulatory Implementation
A. Monitoring Requirements
B. Implementation
C. Upset and Bypass Provisions
D. Variances and Waivers
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