The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) published its final 2025 Industrial Stormwater General Permit (ISGP), which authorizes the discharge of stormwater and certain conditionally authorized “non-stormwater” discharges from industrial activities in the State of Washington. The final 2025 ISGP took effect on January 1, 2025 and superseded the 2020 ISGP.

The new permit:

• Prescribed quarterly 6PPDQ sampling requirement for Transportation, Postal Service (491xxx), Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals, Warehousing, and TSDF Facilities and Dangerous Waste Recyclers;
• Requires PFAS sampling requirements for facilities in the waste management sector and for air transportation facilities with known, current, or historical use of AFFF Foam;
• Eliminates automatic Conditional Non-Exposure approvals;
• Includes an Annual Gross Revenue Reporting obligation and a deadline of May 15; and
• Defines a new Level 3 Engineering Report Deadline of “no later than 6 months after the last day of the calendar year in which the Level 3 was triggered”.

Facilities previously covered under the 2020 ISGP had to reapply for coverage by July 5, 2024. Covered facilities must update their Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPP) to conform to the new permit by May 15, 2025, and all conforming SWPPP updates must be implemented by July 1, 2025.

More information is available at Ecology’s website here.

Governor-elect Bob Ferguson appointed Casey Sixkiller, current Regional Administrator of EPA and an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, as Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology effective January 15, 2025. Sixkiller’s appointment reflects Ferguson’s commitment to protect Washington’s clean air and water and create good-paying clean energy jobs across the state.

President Biden appointed Sixkiller to lead Region 10 in May 2022. Sixkiller oversees the EPA’s work to protect human health and the environment across the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, and 271 tribal nations, leading the EPA’s efforts locally to implement both the Bipartisan Infrastructural Law and Inflation Reduction Act, through investments in water infrastructure, addressing the impacts of climate change, and identifying solutions to achieve clean energy.

In August of 2024, EPA posted a final report reviewing the toxicological effects of formaldehyde and found that it can cause cancer. This assessment addresses the human health effects from inhaling formaldehyde. In the review, EPA noted that formaldehyde can cause sinus and nasal cancer as well as myeloid leukemia. Formaldehyde is present in a variety of products including plywood adhesives, abrasive materials, insulation, pesticides, and embalming fluids. Major sources of anthropogenic emissions include household furnishings and building materials, vehicle exhaust, and tobacco smoke.

This finding does not impose new restrictions on the use of formaldehyde, but listing it as a carcinogen will likely shape future regulations and state/local toxics programs. EPA plans to finish the final risk evaluation by the end of the year, and if they ultimately do decide to ban formaldehyde, it could include many wood products and adhesives unless formulas are changed. The FDA has separately proposed to ban formaldehyde in hair straightening products. The final toxicological review can be found on EPA’s webpage.