II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3602 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to direct the Secretary to establish 

a comprehensive program to control and treat polluted stormwater runoff 

from federally funded highways and roads, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2010 

Mr. CARDIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to direct the Secretary to establish a comprehensive program to control 

and treat polluted stormwater runoff from federally funded highways and roads, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Treatment of Pol5 luted Stormwater Runoff Act’’ or the ‘‘STOPS Runoff 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY RUNOFF POLLUTION MAN2 AGEMENT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 23, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 330. Federal-aid highway runoff pollution manage7 ment program 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab9 lish a Federal-aid highway runoff pollution management 

10 program to ensure that covered projects are constructed 

11 in accordance with minimum standards designed to pro12 tect surface and ground water quality. 

13 ‘‘(b) PROJECT APPROVAL.—The Secretary may ap14 prove a covered project of a State under section 106 only 

15 if the State provides assurances satisfactory to the Sec16 retary that the State will construct the project in accord17 ance with the minimum standards described in subsection 

18 (c). 

19 ‘‘(c) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—The following min20 imum standards shall apply to the construction of covered 

21 projects to maintain or restore, to the maximum extent 

22 technically feasible, the predevelopment hydrology of the 

23 project site with regard to the temperature, rate, chemical 

24 composition, volume and duration of flow: 

25 ‘‘(1) Avoid and minimize alteration of natural 

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1 tion source control measures that utilize existing ter2 rain and natural features and reduce chemical intro3 duction to reduce creation of pollution on the project 

4 site. 

5 ‘‘(2) Maximize capture of highway runoff pollu6 tion on the project site through pretreatment and 

7 treatment, including environmental site design tech8 niques and other control measures that promote 

9 evapotransporation and infiltration. 

10 ‘‘(3) Prevent any remaining highway runoff pol11 lution not addressed under paragraphs (1) and (2) 

12 to the maximum extent practicable by implementing 

13 one or more of the following control measures se14 lected through a watershed-based environmental 

15 management or equivalent approach: 

16 ‘‘(A) Pretreatment and treatment of runoff 

17 with appropriate control measures on the 

18 project site. 

19 ‘‘(B) Discharge of highway runoff pollution 

20 directly to an off-site control measure under the 

21 control of the State with documented capacity 

22 to provide functionally and quantitatively equiv23 alent management of runoff pollution to that 

24 required to achieve the minimum standards of 

25 this subsection for the design life of the project. 


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1 ‘‘(C) If the control measures in subpara2 graphs (A) and (B) are found impracticable 

3 based on site conditions or other appropriate 

4 factors, and an appropriate off-site runoff pollu5 tion mitigation program is in place, contribu6 tion to a mitigation program that will produce 

7 functionally and quantitatively equivalent man8 agement of runoff pollution to that required to 

9 achieve the minimum standards. Under this 

10 subparagraph, priority shall be given to off-site 

11 control measures that address the impacts of 

12 runoff pollution to waterways that are listed as 

13 impaired in the same or adjacent 8-digit Hydro14 logic Unit Code as the project site. 

15 ‘‘(d) GUIDANCE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec18 retary, with the concurrence of the Administrator of 

19 the Environmental Protection Agency, shall publish 

20 guidance to assist States in complying with the re21 quirements of this section. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF GUIDANCE.—The guidance 

23 shall include guidelines for the establishment of 

24 State processes and programs that will be used to 

25 assist in managing highway runoff pollution from 


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1 covered projects in accordance with the minimum 

2 standards described in subsection (c), including— 

3 ‘‘(A) guidance to help States integrate the 

4 planning, selection, design, and long-term oper5 ation and maintenance of control measures con6 sistent with the minimum standards in the 

7 overall project planning process; 

8 ‘‘(B) creation of a watershed-based envi9 ronmental management approach to assist 

10 projects in achieving consistency with the min11 imum standards; 

12 ‘‘(C) guidelines for the development and 

13 utilization of off-site runoff pollution mitigation 

14 programs to achieve compliance with the min15 imum standards; and 

16 ‘‘(D) provisions for State inspection, moni17 toring, and reporting to document State compli18 ance and project consistency with this section. 

19 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.— 

20 Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the 

21 applicability of any provision of Federal, State, or local 

22 law that is more stringent than the requirements of this 

23 section. 

24 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.—The Secretary shall require each 

25 State to report annually to the Secretary on the highway 


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1 runoff pollution reductions achieved for covered projects 

2 carried out by the State after the date of enactment of 

3 this section. 

4 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

5 definitions apply: 

6 ‘‘(1) CONTROL MEASURE.—The term ‘control 

7 measure’ means a program, structural or non8 structural management practice, operational proce9 dure, or policy on or off the project site that is in10 tended to control, reduce, or prevent highway runoff 

11 pollution. 

12 ‘‘(2) COVERED PROJECT.—The term ‘covered 

13 project’ means a project carried out under this title 

14 for— 

15 ‘‘(A) construction of a new highway or as16 sociated facility; 

17 ‘‘(B) construction of a Federal-aid highway 

18 runoff control measure retrofit; or 

19 ‘‘(C) construction of a significant Federal20 aid highway improvement. 

21 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY RUNOFF CONTROL

22 MEASURE RETROFIT.—The term ‘Federal-aid high23 way runoff control measure retrofit’ means the in24 stallation or modification of a control measure for 

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1 way or associated facility originally constructed be2 fore the date of enactment of this section. 

3 ‘‘(4) HIGHWAY RUNOFF POLLUTION.—The term 

4 ‘highway runoff pollution’ means in relation to a 

5 Federal-aid highway, associated facility, or control 

6 measure retrofit projects one or more of the fol7 lowing— 

8 ‘‘(A) a discharge of sediment, metals, bac9 teria, chemicals, nutrients, or oil and grease in 

10 runoff; or 

11 ‘‘(B) a discharge of peak flow rate, water 

12 temperature, and volume of runoff that exceeds 

13 predevelopment amounts generated from a Fed14 eral-aid highway, associated facility, or control 

15 measure retrofit project that violates the water 

16 quality standards of the receiving water set by 

17 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

18 U.S.C. 125 et seq.) and related State programs. 

19 ‘‘(5) SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY IM20 PROVEMENT.—The term ‘significant Federal-aid 

21 highway improvement’ means the rehabilitation, re22 construction, reconfiguration, renovation, or major 

23 resurfacing of an existing Federal-aid highway or as24 sociated facility that disturbs 5 or more acres of 

25 land. 


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1 ‘‘(6) WATERSHED-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL

2 MANAGEMENT APPROACH.—The term ‘watershed3 based environmental management approach’ means 

4 an approach under which— 

5 ‘‘(A) the selection of solutions that prevent 

6 or minimize the environmental impact of an in7 dividual project is made within the broader con8 text of the environmental protection and res9 toration goals of any watershed that drains the 

10 project site, rather than selecting solutions sole11 ly based on site level considerations; and 

12 ‘‘(B) priority consideration is given to— 

13 ‘‘(i) protection of drinking water sup14 plies; 

15 ‘‘(ii) protection and restoration of wa16 terways listed by a State as impaired in 

17 accordance with section 303(d) of the Fed18 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 

19 U.S.C. 1313(d)); 

20 ‘‘(iii) preservation of aquatic eco21 systems and fisheries; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) cost-effective expenditure of 

23 Federal funds.’’. 

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this legis25 lation will be effective and applicable to construction of 


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1 Federal-Aid Highway projects as defined in subsection 

2 (g)(2) 1 year after enactment. 

3 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap4 ter 3 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘330. Federal-aid highway runoff pollution management program.’’. 

Æ 


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