As of late 2008, the City of White Bear Lake, with the city engineer being the responsible party, has been more than a year negligent on fulfilling the requirements of the SWPPP and so has still not been granted a current MS4 permit from the MPCA for managing the city’s stormwater. No enforcement action is planned. As of early 2008, the MPCA was in the midst of an enforcement action against the City of White Bear Lake for pollution discharge to White Bear Lake, and thus out of compliance with the project-specific SWPPP required for construction of the 2007 Lake Avenue trail and street. The fines levied against the City have yet to be ascertained.
On APRIL 22, 2008 7PM the WHITE BEAR LAKE annual PUBLIC HEARING on the SWPPP took in many comments on the direction of stormwater management in the city. By law, the comments, both written and oral, are to be responded to by city engineer Mark Burch, the signatory to the city’s SWPPP. He must state the reasonablenesss of the comment and how the city is intending to address the issue. All comments and responses will be submitted to the MPCA, along with the record of actions taken during the past year to reduce stormwater pollution. MPCA has enforcement authority in situations where the SWPPP annual report is not meeting its intended goals.
For more information on the MS4 program and SWPPP go to http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/stormwater/stormwater-ms4.html
