LOCAL OFFICIALS UNHAPPY WITH DIRECTION OF NEW STORMWATER RULE

Municipal officials nearly abandoned recent federal advisory panel discussions on the Stormwater phase II regulation because of concerns that the rule, as the agency is drafting it, would unfairly increase requirements on small cities and towns until they were at the same level of regulation as large municipalities. EPA officials were able to avert the walkout by assuring the municipal participants that this was not the case, though some stakeholders remain leery that the agency may reverse its decision sometime...