Panel puts hold on new rules for stormwater

Just before leaving office, then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed off on new regulations intended to curb a major pollutant in the Chesapeake Bay: stormwater.

Kaine issued a new s release for the occasion, declaring victory that Virginia finally had secured a path forward for reducing oil, fertilizer, animal waste, silt and other contaminants that wash off development sites and city streets whenever it rains and foul the Bay.

But last week, a state panel voted to put those rules on hold, citing petitions from more than 25 developers and builders concerned about the timing and extent of the new stormwater program.

It was the second time in four months that the Virginia Board of Soil and Water Conservation had approved, and then tabled, the complex set of regulations, which so far have taken more than four years to craft.

As written today, they would dictate how new homes, roads and shopping centers are built, where new development can occur, and how redevelopment happens in cities and towns.

They also encourage "green building" technologies and require engineers to minimize environmental impacts when designing a project. Stormwater permits would become mandatory statewide.

The board action last week means the new regulations will undergo another round of public comment, beginning next month, said Gary Waugh, a spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, the agency overseeing the effort.

It also means the rules will require the signature of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been critical of the stormwater limits in the past and has pledged to encourage economic growth by lessening regulat ions on business and industry.

At the same time, several bills are pending before the General Assembly to delay the regulations - for one or two years, or until the federal government imposes its own stormwater standards, a move not expected until at least 2012.

The interim head of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, Russ Baxter, is expected to brief state lawmakers today on the program and how legislation might affect its success or failure.

Critics of the state regulations - builders, developers, consulting engineers - say they are only trying to create a simpler, fairer system for addressing an acknowledged environmental problem.

Establishing a permitting program in the middle of an economic crisis would increase development and housing costs, they say, and makes no sense when the federal government is poised to launch its own national program.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, are growing weary and anxious.

"It's just becoming obstructionist," said Mike Gerel, a staff scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Richmond. "It's clear a lot of this is about delaying change and maintaining the status quo."

In neighboring Maryland, efforts to crack down on stormwater for the sake of the Bay are facing similar objections from a reeling business community. Proposed actions there also face delays, officials say.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com