Newsletter of the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Wayne McDevitt, Secretary
Vol 4No 4
Land Quality Section
Division of Land Resources
_ Charles H. Gardner, Director
October - December 1997
Changes to North Carolina erosion and
sedimentation control program are proposed
If recommendations recently
agreed upon by an advisory group are
followed, North Carolina’s erosion and
sedimentation control program will get
an infusion of resources along with
tighter standards, a more aggressive
enforcement stance, and an innovative
risk-based site assessment program to
encourage developers to consider the
environmental vulnerability of sites and
to provide incentives for more careful
treatment of vulnerable sites.
After runoff from construction sites
and other disturbed sites in the Research
Triangle area turned the troubled Neuse
River red and grabbed newspaper
headlines in June, Governor James B.
Hunt, Jr. set in motion a series of events
that led to recommendations for improv¬
ing the program.
In June, Gov. Hunt instructed
officials of the (the former) Department
of Environment, Health and Natural
Resources (DEHNR, now DENR) to
work with the N.C. Sedimentation
Control Commission (SCC) and staff of
Land Quality Section, Division of Land
Resources to put together a plan of action
to improve the effectiveness of erosion
and sedimentation control efforts.
In August, the new Secretary of
DENR, Wayne McDevitt, sent a letter to
numerous federal, state, and local
agencies; private regulated groups; and
environmental groups asking for support
of the plan.
To implement the plan of action,
the SCC activated its Technical Advisory
Committee (TAC), under the chairman¬
ship of Commissioner Joseph A. Phillips.
The TAC was charged with reviewing
provisions of the Sedimentation Pollu¬
tion Control Act, erosion and sediment
control regulations and standards, and
recommendations in the plan of action
and with making final recommendations
for program changes and funding to the
SCC, Governor Hunt, and next session of
the General Assembly.
Representatives of numerous
agencies, the regulated community, and
environmental groups joined the TAC at
its first meeting on September 10 and
have continued to participate on the three
subcommittees that were formed to
examine specific aspects of the erosion
and sedimentation control program.
The three subcommittees were:
■ Standards Subcommittee, chaired by
Tom Horstman, Town of Cary erosion
and sediment control program.
■ Enforcement and Incentives Subcom¬
mittee, chaired by Berry Jenkins,
Associated General Contractors of
N.C.
■ Staff and Local Program Subcommit¬
tee, chaired by Donnie Brewer,
Sedimentation Control Commissioner
The TAC reconvened on October
29 to receive and integrate the recom¬
mendations of the subcommittees. At
press time the recommendations had been
adopted by the TAC and were being
readied for presentation to the N.C.
Sedimentation Control Commission
(SCC) for adoption on November 19.
Highlights of the recommendations can
be found on page 2.
Items regarding recommended
funding will be presented to Gov. Hunt
and Secretary McDevitt by SCC Chair¬
man John R. Bratton on behalf of the
Commission.
A number of recommendations will
require that the Sedimentation Control
Commission initiate formal rulemaking, a
process that requires public input and
takes about two years to complete.
Rulemaking activities will be covered in
future issues of Sediments.
Some recommendations will
require amendment of the Sedimentation
continued page 3
IN THIS ISSUE
Recommendations of Sedimentation Control Commission Technical Advisory Committee
2
Reducing turbidity of construction runoff by sediment basin design changes
4
Practice of landscape architecture now requires registration
5
ASTM to develop standards for erosion control materials and systems
5
