Vol. 22, No. 6 December 3, 2014

MDE Finalizes the General Permit for Stormwater Associated with Construction Activity

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is set to issue the long awaited National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) 2014 General Permit for Stormwater Associated with Construction Activity (General Permit) with an effective date of January 1, 2015. The 2014 general permit lasts for a term of five years and will expire December 31, 2019. Coverage under the current 2009 general permit will be terminated December 31, 2014.
 
Currently permitted projects, which will not be completed by the end of 2014, will have to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) between November 17, 2014 and December 31, 2014. Failure to submit a NOI within this time frame will result in a lapse of coverage, thus making a project out of compliance. To aide in the streamlining of the permitting process, MDE unveiled a new online system on November 17, 2014 https://egov.maryland.gov/mde/npdes/Account/Login which allows users to track their NOI(s) and payment(s).
 
If your site’s 2009 permit coverage was obtained on or after January 1, 2013 – you are not required to pay an additional registration fee. If the project obtained coverage prior to January 1, 2013, then a permit fee form and payment will be required to be submitted with the NOI for the 2014 General Permit.
 
Any construction activity planned to disturb more than one acre of land needs to obtain permit coverage for its stormwater discharge. Existing projects are not required to complete the public notification period. One goal aspect of the 2014 permit is that the public notification period for all projects has been reduced from 45 & 30 days to 14 days.
 

The final text of the general permit, as well as additional information, can be found here.



Please contact Roy Van Houten or Daniel Cooper at WSSI if you have any questions or would like assistance insuring that your site remains in compliance.