Commended by industry and marked as a huge win, last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of its long-awaited rewrite of the Obama Administration’s definition of “Waters of the United States,” also known as WOTUS. This new rule, titled the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), outlines in clear terms EPA’s jurisdiction over certain waterways within the U.S. The impact to the ready mixed concrete industry is positive in that it largely maintains an industry status quo of disallowing releases of process water and non-permitted stormwater into a WOTUS. The NWPR, in limiting the previous administration’s regulatory expansion, also uses clear language allowing for water accumulations the industry may have at concrete plants to NOT be covered by the new rule. NRMCA has been continually advocating for this clarity and outcome since the finalization of the contentious Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule in 2015.
Click here for more information, here and here for to review the final rule. You may also contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association