Industry News

Several environmental regulations are in the process of being reviewed and revised both at the federal and state levels. These regulations include:

SEQRA

Endangered Species

Isolated Wetland Classification

NYSDEC Wetland Regulation

Any or all of these can affect your next project. Click here for a brief synopsis of some of these pending changes.

Land Development Magazine features Pipeline Safety article by Bruce Boncke

Bruce G. Boncke, CEO of BME Associates, has written an article that appears in the current edition of Land Development Magazine. Find out what you need to know about hazardous materials pipelines in the Pipeline Safety article by BME CEO Bruce Boncke.

Guidelines on Identifying Protected Waters – What You Need to Know

Bruce Boncke just returned from a meeting with NAHB staff and Regulatory Affairs personnel from EPA and the USACOE. The main topic was the new proposed “Draft Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Waters Act.” In simple terms, that means wetland delineations and you are likely not going to be happy. Also, for those that think these guidelines primarily affect the development industry, you need to know they will hit municipalities hard, as well. Land loss, property values and the ability to do drainage related maintenance will be affected, for everyone.

Some quick facts from the Draft Guidelines and our conversation:

• Currently, approximately 92% of delineation result in a positive JD (Jurisdictional Determination), meaning they are regulated. EPA estimates this Guidance will increase these positive JD’s by 3%, to 95%. They also anticipate a 10% increase in JD submissions, as a result of these new Guidelines.

• EPA estimates the increase in cost of regulatory procedures associated with these Guidelines will be about $320 million. But, that estimate does not include the loss of land value to owners, developers or communities.

• The question about the ability for government personnel to handle the increased workload and decision process went largely unanswered.

• The review and delineation decision process time will likely take significantly longer than the already unacceptable time it currently takes, even though the intention of the Guidelines is to simplify and shorten times. Their underlying assumption is that by saying, “yes, we regulate nearly everything” will be quicker and take less manpower.

If you would like to see the entire draft Guidelines and information on how to provide input to EPA / COE by July 1, 2011, go to: http://www.usace.army.mil/CECW/Documents/cecwo/reg/nwp/cwa_wous_guide.pdf.

For a summary and comparison sheet to the current (2008) Guidelines, prepared by NAHB, click the links or go to our website: BME Associates - Engineers | Surveyors | Landscape Architects - Industry News