Stormwater Enforcement

Resolved that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to:

1. Establish national enforcement and compliance policies to create uniformity across the country.
2. Limit its enforcement actions in delegated states to only those instances where there are significant environmental impacts resulting from the alleged violation; at a minimum, identifying what conditions or criteria must exist prior to the agency initiating any enforcement action within a delegated state.
3. Hold the delegated states responsible for any shortcomings in the enforcement of their programs and require the states to correct any perceived program defects instead of circumventing the state and its legally-binding requirements to reach individuals.
4. Establish a reasonable, predictable time frame between the date of inspection and final agency action and commit to train all inspectors and ensure that they complete an exit interview with documentation with the permittee at the conclusion of each inspection, with no penalties assessed if no exit interview is conducted.
5. Consider developing a mechanism to overcome the legal oversight needed to make violation determinations so that violation and penalty assessments can be issued in the field.
6. Tailor its finding of violation and penalty assessment structure to the severity of the environmental impact; limit penalties for paperwork violations; and recognize and give credit during enforcement proceedings to those who are genuinely seeking to comply, and to implement a 14-day right to cure policy to avoid penalties.
7. Expand the applicability of the Expedited Settlement Offer (ESO) by recruiting more EPA regions and states to use the ESO and widen the scope so that it applies to a broader range of enforcement scenarios.
8. Commit to implementing internal practices such as monitoring, self-auditing or developing policy guidance to ensure that like allegations and findings of violations are treated similarly and in proportion to the level of environmental impact.
9. Commit the staff and resources to work with NAHB and the state and local governments to develop compliance materials and conduct outreach activities to improve compliance with the storm water program.

Resolution originally adopted: 2004.4, Resolution No. 6

Committees with primary jurisdiction:

• Environmental Issues Committee