ENVIRONMENTAL RULES: CHANGES AFFECT BUSINESSES, LARGE AND SMALL

New federal and state environmental regulations concerning storm-water runoff will affect many large and small area businesses and industries, a state official said.

The federal Environmental Protection Administration storm-water runoff regulations are the result of a series of lawsuits filed against the EPA since the 1970s by environmental groups, said the official, Karl Fett of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources water pollution control program.

Fett said: "In 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act that made it illegal to discharge water that had any amount of contamination without having a permit to do so. The permit is called a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

"During the 1970s, and actually right up until today, there have been lawsuits filed by environmental groups that challenged the EPA. The groups wanted the storm-water runoff issue addressed within the Clean Water Act. There were studies done that show over 50 percent of pollution in waters throughout the United States are the result of storm-water runoff."

Fett said the EPA lost most of the suits filed against it, resulting in the Clean Water Act being amended in 1987 to include the regulation of storm-water runoff. The regulations were supposed to have gone into effect one year ago but were delayed one year, until Oct. 1.

Fett said Missouri was granted authority by the EPA to oversee the program and issue storm-water runoff permits.

The state will regulate the runoff of storm water from exposed machinery, raw materials, by-products, wastes, finished products or other significant materials. Fett said businesses and industries that have materials not exposed to storm-water runoff will not come under the new regulations.

"There are basically three groups that must have a storm-water runoff permit, no matter what they do," Fett said. "They are heavy industry, such as mining or manufacturing; the transportation industries if they have outside maintenance facilities such as bus lines, taxi cabs, truck terminals, and railroads; and light industry if they have significant materials such as raw materials, final products, by-products, wastes or material handling equipment that is exposed to storm-water runoff."

Building and construction will also come under the federal and state EPA storm-water rules if the construction involves more than five acres of land.

"There have been cases of visible and harmful pollution caused by clearing land of vegetation such as occurs during the grading of land in construction projects," Fett explained. "Without erosion control practices in use, construction projects can choke downhill streams with silt and sediment. The regulation will require the use of erosion control engineering practices."

Fett said this includes any new housing subdivisions larger than five acres and highway construction projects.

There are exemptions to the EPA rules, Fett said. They include storm-water runoff from agriculture farmland and home gardens. Others exempted from the regulation are those whose entire storm-water runoff flows into a city operated storm- and sanitary-sewer system.

Two types of permits will be issued. One is a general permit, which is good for five years, at a cost of $150. Industries that come under this category include lumber and wood industries, including saw mills, pallet mills and furniture manufacturing.

The other is a site-specific permit, which is good for one year, at a cost of $1,500. Those who will need a site-specific permit are operations that involve toxic materials that are exposed to storm-water runoff that would threaten the ground water.

Fett said current estimates are 95 percent of businesses and industries that must obtain a storm-water runoff permit will need a general permit. "Those industries and businesses that now have a NPDES permit can have it modified to include the storm-water runoff permit," Fett said.

The deadline to obtain the permit is Oct. 1. Fett said as of Aug. 21, fewer than 50 percent of those who must have a permit had applied for one. Because the application procedure could take up to three weeks to complete, some applicants must submit the application no later than Sept. 10.

When applying for a permit, Fett said some applicants will have to submit tests of storm-water runoff from their property. Ruth Hathaway, a laboratory chemist with Environmental Analysis South of Cape Girardeau, said applicants that need storm-water runoff tests should act as soon as possible. The Cape Girardeau lab is one of two in the area qualified to conduct the tests.

Hathaway said it normally takes two to three weeks to complete the tests and have the results ready to send in with the application.

Johannes Auto Sales and Salvage of Jackson is one firm that's already applied for a storm-water runoff permit. Owner Jim Johannes said his business is already in compliance.

"We do not drain any oil, gas or contaminants on the ground; it is all recycled," Johannes said. "We pump all of the CFCs out of the air-conditioning systems of salvaged vehicles. All of our exchange salvage parts are on containerized pallets and under roof so rain water cannot get to them. About the only thing that can get into the ground is iron oxide from rust.

"For me there is really no additional cost in complying with the storm-water runoff rules, but for other salvage yards it's going to be costly to come into compliance. It will be a financial burden on a lot of smaller businesses."

Johannes said his main concern is that other salvage yards will not comply with the new regulations, putting him at a competitive disadvantage because of higher operating costs.

Fett said that at first compliance will be uneven because there will not be enough inspectors to check businesses that don't comply.

Fett said anyone who has questions about the regulations, or those who are not sure if they must comply, should contact him as soon as possible. Write Fett at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Water Pollution Control Program, Jefferson City, Mo., or call his office at 1-526-65102.

Fett said those who already have a NPDES permit should contact the DNR at Poplar Bluff, 1-785-0832, for information on how to modify their permit to include storm-water runoff.