State Innovation Grant Program: Tennessee
Tennessee Construction Storm Water Excellence Initiative
(2007 Competition)
ie innovation urani rrogram 10 support
efforts led by state environmental agencies to test innovative approaches
for achieving better environmental results and improved efficiency in
permitting programs. Between 2002 and 2007, the State Innovation Grant
program competition awarded over six million dollars to support 35 state
projects that test permitting innovation for a variety of regulated entities
including several small business sectors. Asummary of the awards by year
appears in the table below.
State Innovation Grant Program Statistics, 2002-2007
Competition Proposals Proposals Total Program
Year Submitted Selected Funding ($)
2002/2003
$618,000
$1.425 Million
$1.479 Million
Cumulative
$1.243 Million
$1.611 Million
$6.376 Million
"Innovation in Permitting" has been the theme of the State Innovation Grant
competition since its inception. In the last three competition cycles states
received awards for projects in the following three categories:
• The Environmental Results Program (ERP) is an innovative
approach to improving environmental performance based on a system
of the interlocking tools of compliance assistance, self-certification
(sometimes, where permissible, in lieu of permitting), and
statistically-based measurement to gauge the performance of an entire
business sector. The program utilizes a multimedia approach to
encourage small sources to achieve environmental compliance and
pollution prevention. (See: http://www.epa.gov/permits/erp/)
• Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system involving a
continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the
processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its
business and environmental goals. EMSs provide organizations of all
types with a structured system and approach for managing
environmental and regulatory responsibilities to improve overall
environmental performance and stewardship.
(See: www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm)
• Performance Track is a partnership that recognizes top
environmental performance among participating US facilities of all types,
sizes, and complexity, both public and private.
(See: http://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/)
NCEI has provided awards also for projects testing watershed-based
permitting, and for permit process streamlining in past competitions. For
more information on the history of the programs, including information on
solicitations, state proposals, and project awards, please see the EPA State
ittD://www.eDa.aov/innovation/statear
Project Background:
The Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation (TDEC) identified siltation (sedimentation)
as the most frequently cited cause of waterbody
impairment within the boundaries of many of the state's
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s),
impacting over 5,800 miles of streams and rivers.
Excessive sediment loading from storm water run-off due
to clearing, grading, and excavating at construction sites
is a major ecosystem stressor, and has adversely
impacted municipal stream biota, either directly or
through changes to physical habitat. One of the most
effective and efficient ways to prevent the expansion of
water quality impairment related to construction is
through the establishment of criteria to qualify MS4s as
Qualifying Local Programs (QLP) and determine
incentives for MS4s to seek qualification.
TDEC has received a US EPA State Innovation Grant to
develop and implement the Tennessee Construction
Storm Water Excellence Initiative. The initiative
encourages MS4s, through incentives and a formal
recognition and awards program, to become QLPs. The
QLP option will ensure the improvement of water quality
through an efficient implementation of the Construction
General Permit (CGP). TDEC has partnered with the
University of Tennessee, Municipal Technical Advisory
Service (MTAS) to provide assistance on this project.
Project Description
TDEC is implementing a Construction Storm Water
Excellence Initiative to achieve improved environmental
compliance, focusing on outcomes (improved water
quality and administrative efficiency) over traditional
regulatory outputs (number of inspections and permit
issued) to measure performance. The goals of the
Initiative are to improve water quality by assisting the
construction community with compliance with the CGP;
encouraging strong MS4 sediment and erosion control
measures; providing incentives and a formal excellence-
recognition and awards program for members; and
eliminating duplication of the effort between the MS4s
NCE
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION
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and TDEC.
TDEM's objective is to link the attainment of QLP status to
include additional (e.g., beyond those measures required in
the existing permit) proactive and remedial measures to
control the discharge of sediment into impaired
waterbodies, implementation of provisions of approved
sediment Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), and
description of methods to evaluate whether storm water
controls are adequate to meet the requirements of
approved TMDLs.
Additional information on the Tennessee State Innovation
Grant, is available at TDEC's Construction Storm Water
Excellence Initiative website at (http://www.epa.gov/
innovation/stategrants/tennessee.htm).
The work will take four years to complete.
Connection to EPA's Goals
This project supports two of EPA's strategic goals.
Excessive sediment loading from land disturbance and
construction activities in MS4s is a major ecosystem
stressor, and has adversely impacted water quality in many
waterbodies in Tennessee. It is fully expected that the
implementation of the QLP option by MS4s will result in the
improvement of water quality in the long term due to the
efficient implementation of the CGP. Therefore, this project
supports EPA's Goal 2 - Clean and Safe Water.
It also supports Goal 5 - Compliance and Environmental
Stewardship since it will include the development and
implementation of incentives and excellence recognition
for MS4s that pursue the qualifying status.
Project Contacts:
For more specific information on the Tenessee
State Innovation Grant, please contact one of the
individuals below:
Robert Karesh
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Division of Water Pollution Control, Statewide Storm water
Coordinator
401 Church Street, L & C Annex, 6th floor
Nashville, TN 37243-1534
Phone (615) 253-5402 / Fax (615) 532-0686
Robert. Karesh@state.tn.us
Tom Harmuth
US Environmental Protection Agency- Region 4
61 Forsyth Street, S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30303-8960
(404) 562-8293;
Harmuth.thomas@epa.gov
Scott Fontenot
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-HQ
Washington, DC 20460; MC (1807T)
(202) 566-2236; FAX: (202) 566-2212
Fontenot.Scott@epa.gov
Andy Teplitzky
US Environmental Protection Agency-HQ
Washington, DC 20240 (1807T)
(202)566-2947; FAX (202)566-0966
Teplitzky.andy@epa.gov
Program Contact:
Sherri Walker
State Innovation Grant Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460 (MC1807T)
(202)-566-2186; FAX (202) 566-2220
walker.sherri@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
June 2008
EPA-100-F-08-047
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