Business Groups Resist Storm Water Regulations

Two business groups, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties (NAIOP), and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a group that represents Bay State employers, issued a press release Dec. 19 expressing their opposition to proposed storm water management regulations for the state of Massachusetts on the grounds that the regulations would impose heavy costs on local businesses during a recession, the Boston Globe reported.

The groups say that the regulations, as they are currently written, will cost affected businesses at least nearly half a million dollars. For large properties, they could potentially cost several millions of dollars.

“The height of a recession is no time to throw enormous costs onto local businesses,” David I. Begelfer, chief executive of NAIOP's Massachusetts chapter, said in a statement. “At a time when businesses are making critical decisions just to keep their doors open, they will now be faced with hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in compliance costs.”