Over the past three years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working on new regulations for stormwater drainage. The Automotive Service Association (ASA) has been an active participant on the EPA committee for the new regulations that was convened under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Most recently, this FACA committee met to discuss the public comments that EPA received on the proposed rule that was published in the Federal Register Jan. 9. The regulations will be finalized by March 1, 1999, and will be implemented approximately three years after that date.

FACA was enacted by Congress to give the regulated community a greater role in writing administrative regulations that will impact them. The stormwater FACA committee, which met 16 times over the past three years, was comprised of representatives from all levels of the government, the environmental community and industries affected by the regulations. Representatives from the environmental community pressed throughout the entire process for more stringent regulations while industry and local government representatives advocated flexibility in the new regulations.

The EPA has already implemented Phase I regulations that require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for construc-tion sites greater than three acres and municipalities with more than 100,000 resi-dents. The new Phase II regulations will impact certain industrial sites, smaller mu-nicipalities and construction sites between one and five acres in size.

The new regulations are being written to control pollutants that are drained along with rainwater into municipal storm drains. Specifically targeted in the regulations are urban runoff, illicit discharges and construction site runoff. Urban runoff includes suspended solids, nutrients, heavy metals, pathogens, toxics, oxygen-demanding substances and floatables. The regulations also target sediment runoff from construction sites.

Early in the rule-making process, EPA and the environmental community had sought to regulate the motor vehicle service sector, filling stations and dealerships, and ASA fought hard to prevent new regulations for its member shops. ASA argued that the framework already in place, such as the use of Best Management Practices (BMPs), protects water quality. Under the Phase II regulations, service facilities will continue to rely on self-initiated, voluntary BMPs. This is a victory for independent repairers.

In the new regulations, EPA has classified the automotive service sector as "Group B" facilities that include dealerships and rental facilities. This assures that independent repairers will not be targeted in this particular regulation. However, under the new rules, owners of small municipal sewer systems will be required to protect water quality and some of these requirements may have an impact on the service sector.

EPA believes that a large number of automobile-related businesses have illicit connections to stormwater drains, something that ASA has been unable to confirm. In fact, in an EPA program assessment, it was found that approximately 60 percent of automobile-related businesses have these connections. As part of the new regulations, municipalities will be responsible for targeting and eliminating these illicit connections. In addition, owners of small municipal stormwater systems will implement other minimum control measures such as those involving educating the public, controlling construction site runoff and creating a program to manage post-construction site runoff.

One part of the new regulation that will have an impact on independent repairers is the provision dealing with new construction that disturbs between one and five acres. Now, for all construction activity where the possibility of stormwater runoff exists, the construction operator will be responsible for obtaining a NPDES permit and submitting a notice of intent of the BMPs to be used on the site. The permit requires the construction operator to implement erosion and sediment controls and submit site descriptions that include a description of the project, a site map with drainage patterns and other data. However, construction site operators must also meet any municipal requirements for stormwater runoff. In its current form, the regulation relieves site operators from many of the requirements under the NPDES permit for meeting municipal requirements, but this was a subject of major debate at the FACA meetings. EPA is working to devise a way to make it easier to meet both sets of regulations and has considered waiving one set entirely. However, the FACA committee could not agree on this and EPA will make the final decision regarding this issue.

Another positive note is that waivers will be available for construction sites where low rainfall is predicted, if low soil loss is predicted and in cases where a state has already completed a plan that addresses the total maximum daily load of pollutants for an impaired water body.

These regulations will have an impact on independent repairers, especially if they plan to build new facilities. The new rules will also require greater review of stormwater from repair facilities by municipalities.

FACA works for small businesses. ASA has served on many of these committees over the years and believes that they allow substantive input on the front end of regulations rather than the business community being totally dependent on responding to proposed regulations.

ASA Chairman Carl Miller was recently in Washington, D.C., to meet with members of the House and Senate and discuss the value of the FACA system. Miller asked that congressional representatives continue to support federal advisory committees and incorporate them into future legislation impacting independent repairers. ASA has served with the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor, EPA and the U.S. Justice Department. This system has also been applied at the state regulatory level with much success.

ASA representatives recently attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., concerning regulations for stormwater drainage, which was also attended by representatives from all levels of the government, the environmental community and the industry. Attendees pictured here (from l to r) are: Carl Miller, ASA chairman; Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon; Shirley Benson-Bernard, owner of Automatic Transmission Specialties in Salem, Ore.; Joe Bernard, executive director of ASA-Washington state; and Bob Redding, ASA's Washington, D.C., representative.

Bob Redding is the Automotive Service Association's Washington, D.C., representative. He is a member of several federal and state advisory committees involved in the automotive industry. For more information about the legislative activities of ASA, visit www.TakingTheHill.com.

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