From the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts (PACD) newsletter: In order to enhance communication between PADEP and the Conservation Districts, PADEP Deputy Secretary, John Hines,  will provide periodic updates on key initiatives taking place. Here’s the latest:

This has been an exciting week at DEP. On May 17, the Environmental Quality Board approved Chapter 95 Water Quality Standards and Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation regulation as final. Both regulatory packages will proceed to legislative committees and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. Chapter 95 will set new standards for total dissolved solids in Pennsylvania’s waters. Chapter 102 will enhance post construction storm water management; plowing and tilling; set new fee structures; as well as establish provisions for riparian buffers.

I want to thank all who provided input to help make these packages better in their final form. Additionally we continue to conduct meetings in the development of an EPA required Watershed Implementation Plan for reductions necessary to meet goals for the Chesapeake Bay. Four workgroups have been established. Those workgroups include a Management Team; a Wastewater Workgroup; an Urban, Suburban, and Rural workgroup; and an Agriculture Workgroup. These workgroups will be working on the methodologies necessary to develop target loads for Pennsylvania as well as actions necessary to meet those target loads. District involvement is vital to each of these workgroups. I greatly appreciate everyone’s time and commitment.

–John Hines, Deputy Secretary, PA DEP

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PADEP has completed its preparation of the final regulations concerning Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater Management and has submitted the rulemaking to the Environmental Quality Board for consideration at its May 19, 2010 meeting.

You can find the rulemaking package on DEPs Website here.

Included is a comment/response document, which offers PADEP responses to comments received during the public comment period.

For a hard copy of this rulemaking package or for any other questions/requests regarding this or other rulemaking, contact Michele Tate, Regulatory Coordinator at mtate@state.pa.us or by phone at 717-783-8727.

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Update: The Pennsylvania Manual Revision Committee (now renamed Pennsylvania Stormwater Technical Workgroup) met formally for the third time on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at the PADEP Lab in Harrisburg, including approximately 30 attendees.  Dr.Rob Traver, director of the VUSP chaired the meeting, as he has done in the past, with PADEP SE Region stormwater chief, Domenic Rocco, acting as chief note taker. Although PADEP regional office staff were well represented, PADEP Central Office/Headquarters staff are not participating.  The Workgroup has been divided into nine sub-groups focusing on major technical/substantive issues in the existing Stormwater BMP Manual.

Previous meetings had been devoted largely to organizational/administrative issues of the group  - how to make decisions, Workgroup eligibility criteria, formation of a Leadership Board or board of directors, etc..  After a quick vote of confirmation by the Workgroup members, Sub-Groups launched into their progress reports.  Although some Subgroups had not been able to meet and make much progress, several Subgroup reports were both substantively detailed and powerful.  From Infiltration to Water Quality to Methods to Control Guidelines, sub-group reports included impressive data gathering from other states, other sources, typically expanding on existing Manual content. Some highlights:

There was an especially detailed report from Infiltration (Russ Losco, soil scientist) on better soil testing methods, demonstrating that an enormous amount of progress in thinking/understanding has occurred since similar discussions/arguments occurred in the Rachel Carson Bldg yrs ago when the current Manual was being prepared.

Michele Adams talk about Methods Subgroup discussions, reflecting once again the progress in stormwater “science,” including use of continuous simulation modeling, focus on smaller storms, and the like.

Frank Browne and Shirley Clark talked about complexities which the Water Quality Subgroup is wrestling with, again an impressive discussion which suggests a need for making Manual guidance more sophisticated, more complex.  A major issue affecting Manual revisions here seems to be PADEPs revisions to Chapter 102 which, for good or bad, are providing some sort of “anchor” for stormwater management in Pennsylvania municipalities.

There’s much more to add.  Subgroups were directed to review the existing Manual and provide any editorial changes by the end of May.  By the end of June, Subgroups should provide a scope of work which provides an outline for the changes to the technical provisions of the Manual.  Although the Subgroups continue to meet on a monthly basis, the next workgroup meeting will be on July 14 at Villanova University.  Of course, the huge challenge facing the Workgroup will be moving from development of critically good ideas into readable Manual form which is so time consuming and challenging for a volunteer effort…

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More changes Afoot!

Although Chapter 102 regs have always had relevance to stormwater management in Pennsylvania, these proposed changes bring 102 regs into the core of Pennsylvania’s stormwater management program.  They include new elements which have been discussed heatedly in recent months, including the Permit-By-Rule (PBR) option and required stream buffers.  Follow this link to get the complete package, including what is proposed, with some PADEP commentary.

The pro-environment Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water (CCW) urges citizens and interested groups concerned about clean water to sign up and provide testimony at the public hearings hosted by DEP, starting this week.

From the PA Bulletin:

Public Meetings and Public Hearings

The Board will hold three public meetings to explain the proposed rulemaking and to respond to questions from meeting participants. In addition to the public meetings, the Board will hold three public hearings for the purpose of accepting comments on the proposed rulemaking. The public meetings and hearings will be held as follows:

September 29, 2009	Cranberry Township Municipal Building 2525 Rochester Road Cranberry Township, PA    16066-6499 Public Meeting: 4 p.m. Public Hearing: 5 p.m.
October 1, 2009	Department of Environmental Protection Southcentral Regional Office Susquehanna Room A 909 Elmerton Avenue Harrisburg, PA 17110 Public Meeting: 4 p.m. Public Hearing: 5 p.m.
October 5, 2009	Salisbury Township Municipal Building 2900 South Pike Avenue Allentown, PA 18103 Public Meeting: 4 p.m. Public Hearing: 5 p.m.

Persons wishing to present testimony at a hearing are requested to contact the Environmental Quality Board, P. O. Box 8477, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8477, (717) 787-4526, at least 1 week in advance of the hearing to reserve a time to present testimony. Oral testimony is limited to 10 minutes for each witness. Witnesses are requested to submit three written copies of their oral testimony to the hearing chairperson at the hearing. Organizations are limited to designating one witness to present testimony on their behalf at each hearing.

Persons in need of accommodations as provided for in the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 should contact the Board at (717) 787-4526 or through the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 (TDD) to discuss how the Board may accommodate their needs.

The CCW has assembled a summary package that provides background information as well as commentary on what is being proposed and will be developing more detailed recommendations in coming weeks.

Get the Proposed Ch 102 Regs here.

Get CCW Talking Points here.

We will all be living with the consequences of these changes for many years…

We’d love to hear from you in terms of pros and cons — and what you think needs further work.

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This week’s edition includes two Special Reports that focus on:

• the Pennsylvania BMP Manual Revision Committee
• Draft Chapter 102 Regulations

Both of these “major actions” have been prompted by PADEP and are attracting substantial interest and debate across Pennsylvania.  Although StormwaterPA has a point of view in these discussion, we hope to use this blog to, first, communicate what’s going on and, secondly, discuss different perspectives and opinions, as these major stormwater program changes move forward.  Read the series of post that follow for details–and join the discussion.

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