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State Water Board Adopts New Construction General Permit


BY BRIAN MELLO, AGC OF CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, ENGAGEMENT & REGULATORY AFFAIRS


he State Water Resources Control Board formally adopted the new Construction General Permit


(CGP) on September 8, 2022, following an extensive outreach and review process that has unfolded over the past two years. AGC of California has taken a leading


role advocating for construction industry interests on this key regulatory issue, collaborating with the Construction Industry Coalition for Water Quality, Caltrans, and California Alliance for Jobs to provide input and advocacy through- out the extended review process for the updated CGP that first got under way in the fall of 2020. Te new draft of the CGP is expected


to go into effect on September 1, 2023. Like the former CGP that had been in place for over a decade – and which AGC of California had a role in shaping via litigation following its passage by the Water Board in 2010 – the new CGP regulates the discharge of pollutants from California construction sites that are one acre or larger. Tis effectively covers the vast majority of public and private commercial and housing development in the state. Te industry-wide coalition that in-


cluded AGC of California has advocat- ed tirelessly around the shared goal of protecting California’s water quality but called for employing more commonsense and proven approaches to achieving it. During the extended stakeholder and


communication process for the draft CGP, AGC of California participated in several workshops and provided written as well as verbal comments advocating for the concerns of the construction industry on multiple occasions. Several AGC of California member contractors have participated in that advocacy, with representatives from Teichert, Flatiron and Granite Construction voicing their concerns and offering proposed solutions


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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022


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