Mayor Ron Littlefield said today a water quality, or stormwater, permit to be released this week by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is far more restrictive than it needs to be.
"We feel requirements such as these are not an efficient and effective use of the user fees Chattanooga collects to operate the MS4 program," Littlefield said.
The city's permit is expected to be released Thursday. Littlefield said last week the permit leaned more toward dealing with paperwork rather than addressing actual problems.
He said the new permit is unreasonable and at a higher standard than any other municipality in Tennessee.
For more information, read tomorrow's edition of the Times Free Press.