34A-1-58. Annual fee--Calculation--Annual adjustment of fee--Use of proceeds--Existing sources of pollution--Written notice from department. Concurrent with the submittal of a permit application pursuant to this chapter and annually for the duration of the permit, the applicant shall submit to the department a fee not to exceed twenty-five dollars per ton of each regulated pollutant as determined by the provisions of Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. as amended to January 1, 2011, or a lesser amount as set by the secretary by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26. The secretary may exclude any amount of regulated pollutant emitted by any source in excess of four thousand tons per year in determining the amount of fee required for any operating source. The secretary shall develop a fee structure which equitably assesses an annual fee for administration costs and an annual fee based on emissions, the sum of which covers the estimated total costs of administering a delegated state air quality program. The secretary shall, by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26, annually adjust the fee, if necessary, in accordance with the consumer price index for that calendar year. The fee shall be used to cover the reasonable costs, both direct and indirect, of developing and administering the permitting requirements in this chapter, including the reasonable costs of:

(1) Reviewing and acting on any application for a permit or permit revision;

(2) Implementing and enforcing the terms and conditions of the permit if the permit is issued. This amount does not include any court costs or other costs associated with any enforcement action;

(3) Emissions and ambient monitoring, including adequate resources to audit and inspect source-operated monitoring programs;

(4) Preparing generally applicable regulations or guidance;

(5) Modeling, analysis, or demonstrations;

(6) Preparing inventories and tracking emissions; and

(7) Providing support to sources under the small business stationary source technical and environmental compliance assistance program.

For any existing source of air contaminants that is subject to Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq., as amended to January 1, 2011, and that is not required to hold an air quality permit from the department as of January 1, 1992, the board may, as a condition of continued operation, require by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26 that the owner or operator of the source pay the annual fee provided for in this section. Nothing in this section allows the department to charge any one source of air contaminants more than one annual fee that is designed to cover the costs identified in this section. The department shall give written notice of the amount of the fee to be assessed and the basis for the assessment under this section to the owner or operator of the air contaminant source. The fee levied in this section is in addition to all other fees and taxes levied by law.

Source: SL 1992, ch 254, § 73; SL 2011, ch 165, § 33.