Whoever accused the EPA of running amok is surely chagrined by the news last week that the agency is behind (again) on another important rule, this one to regulate the stormwater that pollutes many waterbodies across the United States. Nancy Stoner, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, told a House Subcommittee last week that the agency would be missing another deadline for proposing the rule. "We're continuing to work on those … We are behind schedule," she said, according to E&E News PM (subs. required).
Although the statement may be just another sad development that won’t get much attention, stormwater is a serious problem because it carries fertilizers, oil, pesticides, sediment, and trash as it flows over concrete and asphalt surfaces and discharges at high volumes into local waterways. This uncontrolled discharge scours stream banks, damaging aquatic habitats and eroding natural flood protection infrastructure. In many places around the country, such as the Chesapeake Bay, stormwater is the only increasing source of water pollution because it increases proportionally to urbanization.
Controlling stormwater requires mimicking natural hydrologic features, such as building retention ponds or restoring wetlands through which water can percolate slowly back into the ground. These control structures often cost far less than retrofitting sewage treatment systems and can increase property and aesthetic values. For its forthcoming rule, EPA is considering developing stricter stormwater standards for newly developed and redeveloped sites, expanding the number of urban areas that are required to manage stormwater, and developing specific provisions such as redefining the existing areas subject to permits for the Chesapeake Bay region.
A CPR white paper published in April urged the EPA to work as quickly as possible to propose a stormwater rule. The proposed rule has already been delayed: a legal agreement with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation gave EPA a September 30 deadline, which was then extended to December 15.
It is unclear what resources EPA is devoting to the proposed stormwater rule. It can’t help things that agency rulemaking staff were working on an extensive regulatory look-back plan this year. The agency also faces budget cuts.
The EPA’s legal agreement with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation still requires the agency to take final action on the rule by November 19, 2012. This rule may need all the help it can get.
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Yee Huang | December 21, 2011
Whoever accused the EPA of running amok is surely chagrined by the news last week that the agency is behind (again) on another important rule, this one to regulate the stormwater that pollutes many waterbodies across the United States. Nancy Stoner, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, told a House Subcommittee last week that the […]
Catherine O'Neill | December 21, 2011
It was October 1990, George H.W. Bush was President, and the vote wasn’t close in either chamber: Congress overwhelmingly passed the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, including provisions requiring EPA to reduce mercury emissions from major sources such as power plants. Today the EPA at long last released its rule regulating mercury emissions from coal-fired […]
Matt Shudtz | December 20, 2011
The environmental community breathed a small sigh of relief last week when congressional negotiators released a spending bill without policy riders that would have prevented EPA from advancing rules on greenhouse gases, endangered species, and coal ash. One rider that was included will slow EPA’s efforts to assess toxic chemicals’ potential health effects under the […]
Rena Steinzor | December 15, 2011
The Obama Administration is sending mixed messages. On the one hand, several top economic officials have noted the extensive evidence that a lack of demand, rather than regulation, is the cause of a slow economic recovery and low job creation. Yet the President himself has contradicted his economic advisers on the issue in a misguided […]
Dan Rohlf | December 13, 2011
A draft policy released for comment last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service took on the challenging question of defining the circumstances under which only a portion of an ailing species may be eligible for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, the Services’ proposal continued the […]
Sidney A. Shapiro | December 7, 2011
On Tuesday, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced the Bipartisan Jobs Creation Act, legislation that offers a number of proposals for jump-starting the economy. The bill includes two provisions that would hobble the regulatory system without generating the new jobs that the Senators seek. If these provisions were enacted, the bill would […]
Sidney A. Shapiro | December 7, 2011
Within the last hour, the House of Representatives approved the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act – the REINS Act. The bill was among House Republicans’ top priorities for the year, and they’ve made it and a series of other anti-regulatory bills a centerpiece of their agenda. The plain purpose of the […]
Isaac Shapiro | December 7, 2011
Cross-posted from the Economic Policy Institute’s Working Economics blog. Isaac Shapiro is EPI’s Director of Regulatory Policy Research. The House of Representatives is poised to vote for the REINS (Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) bill today; this would come on top of votes on two bills last week that would also upend […]
Rena Steinzor | December 6, 2011
Booth Goodwin, the U.S. Attorney for the southern district of West Virginia, and Attorney General Eric Holder announced today a landmark settlement with Alpha Natural Resources, the coal company that bought out its rival Massey Energy after a catastrophic explosion deep within the Big Branch mine killed 29 miners. Alpha recently announced that its third […]