Home builders, EPA announce stormwater agreement

Four national homebuilders - Centex Homes, KB Home, M.D.C. Holdings Inc., and Pulte Homes Inc. - today announced they have reached agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and several state governments concerning compliance with the stormwater management provisions of the federal Clean Water Act. The government's inquiry focused on compliance efforts between 2001 and 2004...

June 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2008 -- Four national homebuilders - Centex Homes, KB Home, M.D.C. Holdings Inc., and Pulte Homes Inc. - today announced they have reached agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and several state governments concerning compliance with the stormwater management provisions of the federal Clean Water Act. The government's inquiry focused on compliance efforts between 2001 and 2004.

Regarding the consent decrees agreed to by each builder, the companies offer the following joint statement:

"We are pleased to reach an agreement in this matter, which was primarily related to the homebuilders' proper controls and documentation of processes for limiting the amount of sediment in stormwater runoff at construction sites. As leaders in the homebuilding industry, we share the government's goal of protecting and preserving clean waterways.

"This process has yielded a stormwater management program for residential construction that we believe can be helpful to others in our diverse industry. We look forward to implementing this agreement while continuing to work on improving the federal stormwater program."

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