ADDENDUM.TO.STAFF.RPT-EQC.Recommendation_2.0

DETP/19/9772

''Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 9:20:12 AM (GMT+07:00) Goldstein, Meyer:'' Rule Caption: Increase Air Contaminant Discharge Permit fees Adm. Order No.: DEQ 9-2013 (Temp) Filed with Sec. of State: 10-24-2013 Certified to be Effective: 10-24-13 thru 4-22-14 Notice Publication Date: Rules Amended: 340-210-0100, 340-216-0020, 340-216-0062, 340-216-0064 Subject: The 2013 Oregon Legislature approved Policy Package 111 as part of DEQ’s budget bill, Senate Bill 5520. The policy package restores staff positions to the air contaminant discharge permit program based on an approximate 20 percent fee increase. DEQ expects that the annual revenue from a 20 percent fee increase will fully fund the permit program through 2017. The fees were last increased in 2007, also by 20 percent. The fee for an air contaminant discharge permit is not indexed to the consumer price index to provide regular inflationary increases. Without the fee increase, DEQ would have cut 6.67 full-time equivalent positions dedicated to the permit program. The legislatively adopted budget authorizes DEQ to restore 3.67 of the 6.67 positions identified to be cut. DEQ cannot maintain adequate service in the program without restoring the 3.67 positions funded by the fee increase. DEQ is able to operate the program without the other three positions permanently cut in the budget because of permitting process improvements. DEQ proposes temporary rule amendments to increase air contaminant discharge permit fees by 20 percent. A temporary rule is needed to allow DEQ to issue permit invoices in October as scheduled and avoid a supplemental billing. DEQ will propose permanent rules for adoption in 2014. The proposed rule amendments also revise the greenhouse gas reporting fees from 15 percent to 12.5 percent of the permit fee. DEQ considers this a technical correction to the greenhouse gas reporting fee. Greenhouse gas reporting is a separate program from air contaminant discharge permitting, but the greenhouse gas reporting fees are based on the permit fees. If the greenhouse gas reporting fees are not amended, facilities holding air contaminant discharge permits will inadvertently pay higher greenhouse gas reporting fees as a result of the proposed fee increase. The proposed rule amendments also reduce an economic hardship that will result from correcting an invoicing error for facilities holding simple permits, which are a category of air contaminant discharge permits. DEQ recently became aware of the error through an audit of invoices going back nine years. DEQ determined that a large number of facilities holding simple permits were invoiced for a low annual fee, but do not meet the low fee criteria. The current rule requires facilities to pay all fees owed, including late fees; however, DEQ is proposing rules that will reduce the amount of fees owed for companies who are able to certify they were unaware they were underpaying the fees. Identifying which fee criteria a facility met was a complex process and DEQ is clarifying the process to prevent the invoice error from recurring. This is a one-time exemption and DEQ will not propose permanent rules for this exemption. The exemption would apply only to facilities that underpaid the simple permit annual fee for 2013 and earlier operating years.