Joe,
In my opinion, CM-9 screwed up. They deleted the meat of the section. They removed the only words that commanded the installer to connect the branch circuit EGCs to the equipment grounding terminal bar. The words that they left in the section only command you to install the terminal bar, but they make no command that you actually use it. Of course, the use of this bar is implied in the code section, but implications cannot be enforced. If I remember, when it comes time for the 2008 proposals, I will submitt one to put the '87 wording back into the section.
Sometimes errors in the code wording are missed for many code cycles before they are brought to the surface and a proposal to make a correction is submitted. How long did the code say that you could install conduit with 360° of bends between each fitting before the error was caught and the wording changed? The use of the word "fitting" actually permitted 360° of bend between each coupling!! Was this ever the intent of the code? No way. It was just an error that was not caught for many code cycles. I think that the section being discussed in this thread is another error of this type. Everyone really knows what the code wants the installer to do, but the words just don't actually say it.
Don
