The Multi-Sector General Permit expired, and new facilities cannot get coverage

If you run an industrial facility that discharges stormwater, the permit you are looking for is EPA's Multi-Sector General Permit. Its status right now is unusual enough that most tools quietly ignore it, which is how an operator ends up trying to file something that cannot currently be filed.

What has happened

The MSGP expired on 28 February 2026. No successor permit has been finalised. Existing permittees continue under administrative continuance, which is the ordinary mechanism that stops coverage evaporating the moment a permit lapses.

The consequence that matters is at the other end. EPA has stated that new facilities, and new operators of existing facilities, cannot submit a Notice of Intent until a new permit is issued. Administrative continuance keeps existing coverage alive; it does not create a route in for somebody who was not already covered.

What this means for you

• Already covered under the MSGP. Your coverage continues. So do your obligations: the monitoring, the inspections and the recordkeeping under the permit you hold do not pause because the permit expired.
• A new facility, or a new operator taking over an existing one. You are in the gap. Confirm your position with your EPA region rather than assuming either that you are covered or that you are exempt.
• In a state that runs its own industrial programme. The federal position may not be your position at all. Many states issue their own industrial stormwater permit on their own cycle, and yours may be perfectly current.

Do not confuse it with the construction permit

These are two different permits and only one of them is in this state of limbo. EPA's 2022 Construction General Permit is effective and runs to 16 February 2027. If your question is about land disturbance on a construction site, the construction permit is the one that governs and the answer is available today.

The confusion is understandable because both are NPDES general permits for stormwater, and an industrial site under construction can touch both. The trigger is different: land disturbance brings the construction permit, industrial activity in a covered sector brings the industrial one.

Watch the expiry dates

There is a second date worth writing down. The construction permit expires on 16 February 2027. Permits are reissued on their own cycles and states reissue theirs independently, so a requirement that was correct when you wrote your plan can be superseded while the project runs.

Every determination we produce is stamped with the dataset version and the permit version it was computed against, so a saved answer stays defensible rather than becoming quietly wrong. Nothing here monitors for a reissue on your behalf, and that gap is listed by name on our pricing page rather than left for you to find out.