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Changing Stormwater Regulations in Montana
Stormwater runoff is rainfall or snowmelt that flows over the ground surface that does not infiltrate into the soil. Stormwater runoff may carry pollutants that are found on the surface and discharge them into our state waters. The Montana Clean Water Act states that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is to regulate water pollution. These regulations have the potential to affect your project.
DEQ requires that if your construction project has a disturbance area greater than or equal to one acre, you need to obtain a General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Construction Activity. This permit requires you to prepare and develop a Notice of Intent (NOI) and a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan or more commonly known as a SWPPP. The SWPPP will outline how you plan on removing pollutants from stormwater before discharging it from your site.
A certified SWPPP Administrator must be identified in the SWPPP. This SWPPP Administrator will develop, implement, maintain, revise, and update the SWPPP. The SWPPP Administrator must also make on-site inspections to ensure that no pollutants get discharged from the site. DEQ outlines the SWPPP Administrator training requirements in their permit.
There are associated application fees, depending on the size of your disturbance area, when submitting your SWPPP to DEQ. There are also annual fees if your project continues through the beginning of a new year. DEQ is releasing a new General Permit on January 1, 2018. If you have a project that continues through this date and you have an existing permit, you must resubmit it to DEQ under the new permit. The resubmittal fee is $500. That means you will need to pay $500 plus an annual fee for your project.
A new and noteworthy item that will affect the eastern and southwestern parts of Montana is that the 2018 General Permit will require you to submit a consolation letter from the DNRC Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program if your project is in sage grouse habitat. The consolation letter must be included when you submit your NOI and SWPPP. The consolation process takes approximately 45-60 days. More information on the Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program can be found HERE.
It is important to understand what permits are required for your project. The General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Construction Activity has fees associated and takes preparation time and time for agency review. Plan ahead, so you don’t experience delays in your project and budget for the associated application and annual fees.
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Dominic Goble,
E.I.,
Engineering Technician,
SWPPP Administrator
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TLI has partnered with the Montana Contractor's Association to offer SWPPP Permitting & Compliance Education Courses across Montana. The comprehensive course follows the certification guidelines, and upon the completion, participants receive their Certificate of Completion and Certification Card. Click HERE to view upcoming session locations and enrollment details.
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Our team at TLI is growing, and growing quickly.
As many businesses are bouncing back from the effects of the recession,
we have experienced growth on our end as well. With additional work coming in, TLI has recognized the need to enhance our recruitment and hiring practices to ensure we attract great employees
that will take outstanding care of our clients.
This focus and effort on recruitment has brought forth some fun new changes to the culture at TLI.
The growth of our staff members at TLI has historically occurred from entry-level up as we firmly believe in the advancement and promotion of staff members from within. Due to growing client needs and our company’s rapid growth, we are expanding our hiring in almost every staff level.
You may wonder what makes TLI different when it comes to hiring and retaining great employees. The answer to that is many things! We have set our sights on internal improvements. We recognize that errors and mistakes are part of being human. What sets us apart, is our ability to acknowledge these occurrences as opportunities to improve. We celebrate our successes and continue to assess how we can improve each day. We are focused on providing training for our management team, so they are effectively leading and developing all of our staff members. These are just a couple examples of the focus that we maintain and grow to advance all members of our team
We are very excited about TLI’s growth and the need to bring in more quality team members. We seek long-term relationships with our employees so that our clients have familiarity with our team and a high level of confidence in the work that we provide
If you or someone you know would be a great addition to our team, please send them our way! Contact me directly or our HR Director,
Sarah Bowman, or visit the Careers section of our website to learn more about the great career opportunities we have available at TLI right now!
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