In December 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issued joint guidance on the terms and procedures used to determine the extent of federal control over water and wetlands, building upon previous guidance issued in June 2007.  Legal standards establishing the boundaries of jurisdictional waters, referred to as "waters of the United States," have been under public scrutiny since the U.S. Supreme Court's fractured 2006 decision, Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006), which set recognizable limits on federal control over wet areas.  Regulators will look to the so-called "2008 Rapanos guidance" when deciding whether construction activities impacting wetlands, tributaries and other waters require federal authorization. 

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Last August, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve the state's new standards for off-road diesel engine emissions, which would force construction companies in California to replace most of their heavy construction equipment.  In mid-December, AGC asked EPA either to deny that request, or in the alternative, to defer any decision until California considers AGC's formal petition to reopen or repeal the nation's first-ever statewide rule on the exhaust from existing fleets of off-road diesel equipment.  In a concerted effort to influence EPA, AGC chapter staff and members used the AGC Legislative Action Center to tell EPA how their businesses will be impacted if California's emission standards spread nationwide.

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Nearly 600 interested stakeholders registered for a webinar that AGC sponsored in conjunction with the Diesel Technology Forum on Dec. 3-Off-Road Diesel Developments: Clean Diesel Technology, Regulations and Requirements Facing Today's Construction Industry.  The recorded webinar as well as the presentations are available at no charge at www.dieselforum.org/webinars.

AGC staff presented on the Association's overall policy on diesel retrofit and also provided details on California's off-road diesel emission standards, including the problems that the rule raises in that state and nationwide. Representatives from Caterpillar and John Deere discussed the changes being made to new construction equipment to reduce engine emissions, as well as the costs and benefits of retrofit technologies designed to clean-up the existing diesel fleets.

For additional information, contact Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org.