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Environmental News |
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DEP Air Quality Program Fees Plus |
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The December 18, 2018 Environmental Quality Board (EQB) meeting was primarily about increasing DEP permit fees for various programs, including the Air Program.
DEP's proposed amendments to the fee schedules for the Air Program are authorized under Section 6.3 of the Air Pollution Control Act (APCA), which authorizes the EQB to establish fees sufficient to cover the indirect and direct costs of administering the air pollution control plan approval process, operating permit program required by Title V of the Clean Air Act, and the Small Business Assistance programs. If the funds are not sufficient to cover the program costs, EPA ultimately has the option to take over DEP’s program, as well as withdraw Pennsylvania’s federal highway funding (unlikely to happen). Once the fee package is published in the PA Bulletin, it is expected there will be a 60-day comment period along with three public hearings.
This fee package is moving forward now because the Department has indicated a deficit projection in the Air Program beginning 2021-22 and it takes several years to go through the proposed rulemaking process. This program has not previously had a deficit due to the Title V emissions fees monies that the coal-fired electric generating facilities used to provide. However, because emissions have decreased significantly and those plants have gone away, this new package proposes fees that will cover that funding gap. DEP has indicated that even with the loss of coal-fired electric generating facilities, there are still significant Title V responsibilities that must be met. According to DEP, the proposed fee increases will support:
- The maintenance of staff and add 17 staff (this bullet is the primary use of increased fees),
- Development of additional electronic permit and fee applications, and
- Deployment of a mobile inspection platform leading to more efficient compliance inspections and complaint response.
The proposed rulemaking would affect the owners and operators of air sources in Pennsylvania, including all Title V and non-Title V facilities, subject to the plan approval and permitting requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and APCA and implementing regulations, as well as asbestos demolition and renovation contractors. This amounts to approximately 562 Title V permitted facilities, 2,700 permitted non-Title V facilities, and 2,000 environmental remediation contractors.
In general, the following has been proposed:
- A definition for “synthetic minor facility” has been added.
- A new section entitled Operating Permit Modifications has been added, establishing procedures for significant operating permit modifications.
- PA Code Sections 127.702, 127.703, and 127.704 (relating to plan approval fees; operating permit fees under Subchapter F and Title V operating permit fees under Subchapter G) are amended to revise the existing fee structures for plan approval applications and operating permits.
- New fees are established in Section 127.702 for plan approval applications for plantwide applicability limits and ambient air impact modeling of certain plan approval applications.
- The annual operating permit administration fee required under Sections 127.703(c) and 127.704(c) is proposed to be replaced with an annual operating permit maintenance fee that would be due on or before December 31 of each year for the next calendar year.
- Minor amendments are proposed to Section 127.705 to clarify implementation of the Consumer Price Index adjustment.
- Sections 127.708, 127.709, 127.710, and 127.711 (relating to risk assessment; asbestos abatement or regulated demolition or renovation project notification) for requests for determination, fees for claims of confidential information are added to establish fees to support risk assessment analysis, the submission of asbestos notifications, requests for determination, and claims of confidential information.
- Section 127.712 (relating to fees for the use of general plan approvals and general operating permits under Subchapter H) is added to allow the Department to establish application fees for the use of general plan approvals and general operating permits for stationary or portable sources.
The Department has prepared what they refer to as a Clean Air Fund Fiscal Analysis and Fee Report. See Tables 17 and 18 beginning on .pdf page 26 of this document for the current and proposed fees. These fees are a staged approach out to the year 2031 and show a significant increase from current fees.
A copy of the proposed Annex A (regulation itself) can be found here.
Should you have any questions or comments or wish to share the impact of these proposed regulations on your company, please contact Josie Gaskey.
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