Business groups take stand on stormwater regs

Two business groups today issued a press release expressing their opposition to proposed stormwater management regulations for Massachusetts on the grounds that the regulations would impose heavy costs on local businesses during a recession.

The groups are the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties, or NAIOP, and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a group that represents Bay State employers.

According to the business groups, the regulations, as currently written, will cost affected businesses a minimum of nearly half a million dollars and much more, potentially several millions of dollars, for large properties.

“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.”
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)