Senate panel backs new study of state primacy for wastewater permits

The Senate State Affairs has unanimously approved a resolution from Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, to launch a legislative interim study committee to look at Idaho taking over primacy from the EPA on issuing wastewater permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). A 2005 state study never led to such a change, though Idaho is one of a handful of states without primacy in that area, in part because of its costs and because of resistance from the construction industry.

An array of lobbyists spoke out in favor of the resolution, including John Eaton of the Idaho Association of Realtors. He said, “From the construction industry side … what you do right now is you go online and you fill out a form that says this is my permit and this is how I’ll conduct my business for my little site, and you’re deemed to have complied with the federal permitting requirement.” He said feds typically didn’t show up at construction sites to check further, but that’s changed. “We are now hearing from our developers that the hard hand of the federal government is intruding very much into their developments,” he said. The NPDES permits cover runoff from developments.

Eaton said the Idaho Transportation Department also has raised the possibility of primacy fitting into streamlined permitting processes for projects including road construction, modeled after programs in Florida and Michigan. “It could be a tremendous cost saving,” Eaton said.

Lobbyists for the Association of Idaho Cities, the Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry, Potlatch Corp. and the Northwest Food Processors Association also spoke in favor of the resolution, which now heads to the full Senate. If both houses approve resolutions for the study committee and it’s among those selected by leadership, a group of lawmakers would launch the new study over the summer.

Hammond said the permits are needed for any discharge into streams, from logging roads to agricultural herbicide applications to city wastewater systems. “We have lost control over our own destiny,” he said. “For instance in North Idaho, the Kootenai County cities that discharge into the Spokane River are being told by the state of Washington what criteria they have to live under for their permits, and our own DEQ doesn’t even have a seat at the table.” Hammond said it’s not an effort to change standards for wastewater discharge, just to allow permitting at the state level. The shift could be funded by charges on all those who have to get the permits, he said. “Quite frankly, spreading that cost out over all the users … it really becomes a pretty small number per individual, so I think it’s very doable.”