A new Construction General Permit program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in effect for projects that disturb an acre or more of land or are part of bigger projects.

EPA is directly administering the revised program in four states, the District of Columbia and American territories, on Indian Country land in several states, and in parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Associated General Contractors of America called the revised program "far more burdensome" than the one it replaced, but the organization also said EPA dropped several provisions that it had proposed.

"For months, AGC sustained an effort to educate EPA to the realities of the construction industry, and now the results are clear: AGC has prevented the agency from going to the extremes that had so seriously threatened the construction industry," AGC said in its report on the new standards.

The 2012 permits are for five years, EPA said.