Environmental Groups Petition EPA To Regulate Stormwater Discharges

On July 10, 2013, a group of environmental organizations (including American Rivers, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Natural Resources Defense Council) petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose sweeping stormwater permit requirements on commercial, industrial and institutional sites in EPA Region 1 (New England), 3 (Mid-Atlantic) and 9 (Pacific Southwest).
 
The petitions assert that EPA must exercise its "Residual Designation Authority" (RDA) under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act, which establishes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), because the sites are contributing to violations of water quality standards.
 

The environmental groups brought their petitions under 40 CFR 122.26(f)(2), which states that "any person may petition [EPA] to require a NPDES permit for a discharge which is composed entirely of storm water which contributes to a violation of a water quality standard or is a significant