Maine Aggregate Association

EPA TELLS NSSGA COMMITTEE TO EXPECT 14 MONTHS OF SCRUTINY ON STORM WATER ENFORCEMENT

During NSSGA's Environmental Committee meeting on Aug. 4 at NSSGA's offices in Alexandria, Va., personnel from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance talked about EPA's continued storm water enforcement initiative in the ready mixed concrete and aggregates industry sectors.

Officially, EPA is in the second year of a three-year industry enforcement initiative. However, there is no guarantee that EPA will stop after three years if they continue to see problems and there is no improvement in compliance within the industry sectors. EPA will put added focus on the ready mix and aggregate sectors in the next 14 months. During this time, the agency is focusing on co-located ready mixed concrete and aggregate facilities as presenting the highest environmental risk. However, stand-alone operations may also be inspected.

EPA identified the following problems with regard to storm water issues during site inspections of both ready mix and aggregates operations:
* There is 35 percent - 40 percent non-compliance with ready mix and aggregate sites.
* Facilities have not applied for the Multi Sector General Storm Water Permit (MSGP), where applicable
* Quarry dewatering does not meet permit limits or benchmark standards
* There is no Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) in place or being implemented
* There are no trained/qualified site employees familiar with storm water compliance and BMPs
* Failure to collect storm water samples
* No Best Management Practices in place; no inspection/maintenance of existing BMPs
* No oil/water separators in place, if part of a permit or BMP
* No Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan in place; no secondary containment of fuel tanks; failure to manage fuel dispensers on site;

EPA identified these NPDES issues:
* No section 404 permits in place for applicable filling or earth moving activities in waters of the U.S.
* No process water/NPDES permits in place for runoff/collection/discharge water (examples: steam-cleaning equipment pads, aggregate washing, etc.)
* Failure to follow state and local permit requirements such as inadequate erosion and sediment control plans

EPA made the following recommendations to industry as a result of these enforcement inspections:
* Train, hire or dedicate employees to cover storm water/NPDES/environmental issues on site
* Develop and implement SWPPP and SPCC plans
* File Notice of Intent to be covered by MSGP, if applicable
* Install/engineer adequate storm water control devices
* Encourage closed-loop recycling of waters on site
* Complete a systematic review of all water compliance issues
* Increase monitoring as corrective measures are installed

A company's profile will be elevated at EPA if:
* You have a pattern of complaints from neighbors
* You have been referred to EPA by a state regulatory agency
* You operate near a drinking water source
* You discharge to an "impaired" water body (on a TMDL list)
* You have been inspected previously by EPA