The Washington Stormwater Center recently hosted James Tupper from Marten Law to provide his perspective on the 2025 re-issuance of the Industrial Stormwater General Permit. James has 30 years of experience as an environmental attorney, heavily emphasizing Industrial and Municipal NPDES permits. Watch the full presentation below:

5 Key Takeaways:

1. The #1 reason James sees clients facing citizen suits or enforcement action is a lack of internal communication and training.
Example: An EHS manager who managed the stormwater sampling and monitoring retires and the new hire isn’t trained or introduced to the stormwater permit requirements. The facility failed to sample or do inspections for 4 quarters.

 

2. 2025 ISGP will bring many new facilities to the permit- especially in the transportation industry. James recommends these facilities identify if they need a permit and immediately start to work on their SWPPP with a consultant to be prepared.

 

3. Familiarize yourself with the new compliance conditions to prepare for 2025 (READ THE PERMIT!). There are many seemingly small additions to the permit, here are 4 proposed changes that stick out to James:

1. 1. Spill Log- Could be a lot of additional work to properly log and report every drop as the permit proposes.
   2. Employee and Vendor Training- Many sites have a large number of vendors entering and exiting their property and need to be prepared.
   3. Reporting Requirements in the Annual Report- Concern about the scope of what needs to be reported given how many things can impact stormwater, as well as the ability of facilities to conduct internal audits with some level of attorney-client privilege.
   4. Reporting of Permit Violations

 

4. Deadline extension for level 3 corrective actions requiring an engineering report. James mentioned that this is a much-needed addition to the permit given the amount of time it takes to get an effective engineering report created.

 

5. Permit interpretations are complicated. There were many great questions and even some back-and-forth on permit interpretations. James made it clear that these interpretations are vitally important and that facilities should seek clarity from independent legal counsel, experts, and ecology when needed.

 

For more information, email [email protected]. 

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Recap Ecology’s ISGP Public Workshop

Read a summary of proposed changes to the 2025 ISGP

Read the full redlined draft 2025 ISGP.