A proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency to send builders and developers a 61-page survey to garner extensive technical and financial information on how they manage stormwater on their job sites is an extremely bad idea, NAHB told the agency.

In 40 pages of detailed comments submitted in late December, NAHB told the regulators that the proposed Information Collection Request in anticipation of a proposed federal post-construction stormwater management rulemaking is “premature, lacks justification, is extremely burdensome and will not result in useful data.”

A number of state and local governments around the country already have regulations on the books governing how stormwater discharges should be managed once construction work has been completed, the comments said, and it makes more sense to analyze how these disparate programs work before instituting a new plan.

In addition, the EPA has already announced that new effluent limit guidelines (ELGs) for the construction industry will begin to be incorporated into state-run permitting programs as their current federal permits expire. This is expected to have a significant impact on how builders and developers manage their stormwater runoff but it won’t be reflected in the data collected in the proposed survey, NAHB noted.

“NAHB believes that the proposed ICR is premature because the agency has failed to fully explain its goals, has not articulated its statutory authority to regulate such discharges, does not appear equipped to collect the full array of information that is needed prior to conducting such a rulemaking and has not demonstrated that a post-construction rule for this subset of dischargers is necessary,” the NAHB comments said.

In addition, “NAHB is concerned that the industry questionnaire, as currently written, does not meet procedural or data quality standards, will be overly burdensome for respondents and will not garner data that will be useful to the agency,” NAHB said.

“The EPA must also justify the need for and the agency’s legal authority to regulate such discharges; collect and study the array of information needed to properly characterize urban runoff and its constituent sources, assess the universe of already-regulated entities and study [best management practice] effectiveness; and finally redesign the questionnaire to ensure collected data is relevant and useful,” NAHB commented.

NAHB invited the EPA to work with the association on a rewrite of the survey that “will both result in meaningful data and not impose burdensome requirements on respondents.”

In its current form, the survey is expected to take more than 40 hours to complete, according to the EPA’s own estimates.

“Some companies may fail if they are required to take a full week of effort from the owner or a key employee to try to complete as much of the survey as they can, and pay for the time needed for others to supply data on past projects,” NAHB noted.

NAHB members can register to attend "listening sessions" to talk about the survey request and other aspects of the new stormwater regulations. The schedule is:

• Jan. 19, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., EPA Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago
• Jan. 20, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco
• Jan. 26, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Ave., Suite 1200, Dallas
• Jan. 28, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. EPA Headquarters, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.

The EPA also plans a webcast on Feb. 3 from 12:00-4:00 p.m. EST for industry members and others interested in submitting brief statements. After a presentation from the EPA, callers can each speak for three minutes. Registration information will be posted soon on the EPA Web site.

With last month’s release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of final specifications for its WaterSense label for new homes, the voluntary water-efficiency program is now up and running.

As the result of input from NAHB to earlier drafts of the specifications, the new program is more workable for home builders — a win for the industry and, more importantly, for new home buyers and communities interested in saving more water, said Dwight M. “Sonny” Richardson, chairman of the NAHB Construction, Codes and Standards Committee.

“We wanted to make sure that the WaterSense program took into consideration the many variables in home design and location that can measurably affect water usage,” Richardson said. “We also thought that this above-code program should mesh with existing building codes and with green building initiatives such as the NAHB National Green Building Program.”

WaterSense addresses fixtures inside the home such as toilets, faucets and showerheads as well as irrigation products, vegetation and other landscaping features on the lot itself.

NAHB was especially interested in clarifying the intentions of specific program requirements and avoiding duplicative paperwork and inspections that might discourage industry participation, Richardson said.

The final specs have addressed most of NAHB’s concerns and, as the program matures, additional or unresolved issues are expected to be worked out by the EPA and builders who are participating in WaterSense.

The final version includes urinals, the use of turf grass as vegetation on steeper slopes, an alternative to pressure regulating valves where they are not necessary, irrigation exemptions for very small lots and provisions to allow efficient water features, pools and spas — all concerns that were voiced by NAHB.

The indirect costs of complying with new regulations for the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses could make it more difficult for home builders to provide affordable, energy-efficient housing, NAHB told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 28.

In  its response to the “Prevention of Significant Deterioration/Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule,” NAHB acknowledged that the EPA’s proposed rulemaking may not directly affect home builders and developers because emissions from their activities are significantly smaller than those from the large commercial enterprises, utilities and other businesses that will have to comply with these new Clean Air Act regulations.

However, “Because those industries directly regulated under the [Clean Air Act] will pass along compliance costs, any additional regulations will hinder the ability of our members to provide affordable and energy-efficient housing,” the NAHB letter said.

“Likewise, these rules could prevent our industry from recovering from the current economic climate and prevent the creation of new home building jobs,” the comments said.

NAHB also pointed to other initiatives that could provide a more significant reduction in the carbon emissions from residential and commercial buildings, which account for an estimated 40% of the total emissions from all sources.

These initiatives — including energy retrofits as well as incentives and rebates for more resource-efficient construction techniques and products — have not been included in any Clean Air Act regulatory plan, which is another indication that the act is inappropriate as a regulatory tool to address this problem, the letter said.

“While energy codes and green building for new housing are important steps to future sustainability, addressing the legacy housing stock is the most cost-effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector,” NAHB said.

“Over the past two decades, NAHB and its members have facilitated the adoption of energy-efficiency practices by designing and disseminating green building resources for the residential construction, land development and remodeling industries so members could begin to incorporate these sustainable practices into their daily routines,” the letter said.

Today’s new homes are significantly more energy-efficient than those of a generation ago and homes built to the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code can expect to use between 12% and 16% less energy than homes of similar size constructed to the 2006 IECC.

“NAHB and its members have developed a significant amount of experience and expertise in this arena, which we believe can provide a blueprint for success,” the letter said.

“We are hopeful that the agency will rely on NAHB and the successes we have garnered as the EPA develops its action plan to boost energy savings and create green jobs. NAHB’s efforts have shown that voluntary initiatives and not mandates are one key to obtaining builder and consumer buy-in that garners measurable results,” NAHB said.