Proposed Stormwater Permits

Messages for Chambers of Commerce and Member Businesses

· Opposing these permits does NOT mean you are against clean water. We recognize the need to be vigilant regarding coastal and inland water quality and are willing to do our part as concerned corporate citizens. But these regulations will direct money away from where it should be spent – rebuilding wastewater systems – and will not have any positive effect on coastal water quality for 10 or 20 years (according to the staff of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board).

· We support regional stormwater quality solutions. We agree with the Environmental Projection Agency that stormwater should be treated in regional facilities designed to meet the needs of entire watersheds. The proposed regulations actually make it difficult or impossible to use this superior, more cost-effective solution.

· The regulations will have a negative impact on existing businesses.

o Businesses that expand as little as 2,500 square feet will have to create a Water Quality Management Plan. If runoff from their property reaches a waterway with impaired water quality, they will have to capture runoff, employ costly Best Management Practices (BMPs) to treat it, and maintain those BMPs in perpetuity.

o The regulations are a multi-billion dollar unfunded mandate on local government. A study by the County of Orange showed implementation of the new regulations there, if transferred to the public, would cost $65 per household per year and $208 per business per year.

o Cities will be required to inspect businesses and write up penalties. Fines can be as much as $25,000 per day. This is a reversal from the current regulations, which say businesses can be inspected only when there is evidence of wrongdoing – what happened to the assumption of innocence?

· The regulations will have a negative impact on competitiveness. California’s aggressive stance on stormwater regulation is not reflected in other states, so out-of-state businesses will not have the same cost impacts. Also, the regulations have a very high fiscal impact on new housing and discourage the development of affordable, high-density housing. High housing costs already create a big enough recruitment and competitive challenge for Southern California businesses!

· The regulations open the door to costly lawsuits. For the first time, these regulations put storm water quality under the federal Clean Water Act, which means any citizen or activist group can bring a lawsuit in federal court, charging individual business owners. Federal lawsuits are usually extremely expensive to litigate.