Background
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recently settled a lawsuit filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the following Bay States: New York, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The crux of the lawsuit was over EPA’s approval of Pennsylvania’s Phase III Watershed Improvement Plan (WIP) which, the plaintiffs argued, would not meet the Commonwealth’s pollution reduction requirements. Essentially, PA wasn’t being held to the same standard as the other Bay States and the EPA decided to settle out of court rather than move forward with a defense. The full settlement agreement document can be viewed here: chesapeake-bay-final-settlement-agreement-042023.pdf
EPA Compliance Monitoring Visits
The settlement agreement mandates that the EPA begin compliance monitoring in PA’s Agricultural and MS4 communities. The settlement agreement pertains to all Chesapeake Bay MS4s located within the Commonwealth, however, York and Lancaster Counties have been identified as Tier 1 priority communities and have already begun receiving compliance monitoring visits from EPA.
Tier 2 counties include Cumberland, Franklin, and Lebanon. Municipalities in these counties should anticipate EPA visits in 2024.
Preparing for an EPA Visit
EPA has begun making unannounced visits in York and Lancaster Counties and the PA DEP has passed along the following “unofficial” guidance regarding preparation for EPA’s visits.
EPA will arrive in the morning and require all involved personnel to participate in the review (including administrative, public works, and code compliance staff). All relevant MS4 information will need to be compiled for their review and inspection.
EPA will also want to inspect/visit all municipal properties where materials are stored (and possibly other locations).
Municipal Pollution Prevention
EPA will be focused on finding program deficiencies and the following preparatory actions have been suggested:
Any piles of material that are stored outside on municipal property should be contained AND COVERED. This includes any trash piles, mulch, cinder, asphalt, metals, stone, etc. EPA would prefer to see the material in a container with walls and either a tarp or some kind of canopy over top. If that is not possible, then consider mulch socks around the piles and a secured tarp over top.
Salt Dome – EPA is looking for “drag out” from the salt dome, any material on the ground or near the inlet – and piles must be contained within the salt dome area.
Hazardous Materials – EPA will be looking to see that every container is labeled and properly stored. EPA will also be looking for secondary containment, spill kits, and SDS sheets (Safety Data Sheets) – and will ask for them.
O&M Maintenance Logs- Have your maintenance logs available along with your Public Works O&M Procedures.
MS4 Program Plans and Documents
Program documents should be organized and easily located. Following is a list of required documents that DEP routinely asks to be available during their MS4 Inspections. This list includes the majority of what the documentation that EPA will be looking for. In preparation for a potential EPA visit, make sure your files are organized and you can find the following documents, preferably in one location:
A copy of all past Annual Reports
A copy of the original and renewal NOI
A copy of the original and renewal permits
The Public Education and Outreach Program (PEOP) (written plan)
The Public Involvement and Participation Program (PIPP) (written plan)
The Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDD&E) Program (written plan)
The inventory of municipal facilities and activities that are owned or operated by the permittee and have the potential for generating stormwater runoff to the regulated small MS4.
The written Operation & Maintenance Plan for municipal facilities and activities
The written employee training program
A map of all outfalls, receiving waters, stormwater collection systems, swales, basins, etc.
Ordinance prohibiting non-stormwater discharges
The stormwater management ordinance
The Inventory of all PCSM BMPs installed since March 10, 2003, that discharge directly or indirectly to your regulated small MS4.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the permittee and the County Conservation District
If you have had an audit with DEP in the last three to five years, then you have these documents and more than likely only need to add the subsequent annual reports filed since the last inspection.
If you have used CSDatum to create your MS4 Annual Report to DEP, many of the above noted documents will be available from within CSDatum.