The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) have not reached an agreement on the stormwater rulemaking schedule. CBF is now free to pursue legal actions to force EPA’s hand; however, indications are that negotiations between CBF and EPA are continuing.

The original 2010 settlement required EPA to propose a stormwater rule by Sept. 2011. The deadline was extended to April 27, 2012 and again to June 2013. However, EPA continually has failed to meet these deadlines and finally triggered a 60-day negotiation period in which the agency had to either propose the rule or come to an agreement on a rulemaking schedule.  Currently, negotiations are ongoing and EPA still plans to propose a rule including the first-ever national performance standards for post-construction discharges from new and redevelopment projects.

Learn more about EPA’s stormwater rulemaking efforts at WEFTEC 2013 during Session 330: Stormwater Policy: National Rulemaking. This interactive session will include brief presentations by a panel of leading stormwater professionals including Chris Kloss, EPA Green Infrastructure Coordinator; and Andrew Reese, vice president at AMEC Environment and Infrastructure Inc., who also will give the luncheon keynote speech on Monday, Oct. 7.