Minnesota Session Laws - 1994, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 637-S.F.No. 2289 
                  An act relating to the environment; authorizing a 
                  person who wishes to construct or expand an air 
                  emission facility to reimburse certain costs of the 
                  pollution control agency; requiring a report to the 
                  legislature; amending Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 
                  116.07, subdivision 4d. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 116.07, 
        subdivision 4d, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 4d.  [PERMIT FEES.] (a) The agency may collect permit 
        fees in amounts not greater than those necessary to cover the 
        reasonable costs of reviewing and acting upon applications for 
        agency permits and implementing and enforcing the conditions of 
        the permits pursuant to agency rules.  Permit fees shall not 
        include the costs of litigation.  The agency shall adopt rules 
        under section 16A.128 establishing the amounts and methods of 
        collection of any permit fees collected under this subdivision.  
        The fee schedule must reflect reasonable and routine permitting, 
        implementation, and enforcement costs.  The agency may impose an 
        additional enforcement fee to be collected for a period of up to 
        two years to cover the reasonable costs of implementing and 
        enforcing the conditions of a permit under the rules of the 
        agency.  Any money collected under this paragraph shall be 
        deposited in the special revenue account. 
           (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), and section 16A.128, 
        subdivision 1, the agency shall collect an annual fee from the 
        owner or operator of all stationary sources, emission 
        facilities, emissions units, air contaminant treatment 
        facilities, treatment facilities, potential air contaminant 
        storage facilities, or storage facilities subject to the 
        requirement to obtain a permit under Title V of the federal 
        Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Public Law Number 101-549, 
        Statutes at Large, volume 104, pages 2399 et seq., or section 
        116.081.  The annual fee shall be used to pay for all direct and 
        indirect reasonable costs, including attorney general costs, 
        required to develop and administer the permit program 
        requirements of Title V of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments 
        of 1990, Public Law Number 101-549, Statutes at Large, volume 
        104, pages 2399 et seq., and sections of this chapter and the 
        rules adopted under this chapter related to air contamination 
        and noise.  Those costs include the reasonable costs of 
        reviewing and acting upon an application for a permit; 
        implementing and enforcing statutes, rules, and the terms and 
        conditions of a permit; emissions, ambient, and deposition 
        monitoring; preparing generally applicable regulations; 
        responding to federal guidance; modeling, analyses, and 
        demonstrations; preparing inventories and tracking emissions; 
        providing information to the public about these activities; and, 
        after June 30, 1992, the costs of acid deposition monitoring 
        currently assessed under section 116C.69, subdivision 3. 
           (c) The agency shall adopt fee rules in accordance with the 
        procedures in section 16A.128, subdivisions 1a and 2a, that will 
        result in the collection, in the aggregate, from the sources 
        listed in paragraph (b), of the following amounts: 
           (1) in fiscal years 1992 and 1993, the amount appropriated 
        by the legislature from the air quality account in the 
        environmental fund for the agency's air quality program; 
           (2) for fiscal year 1994 and thereafter, an amount not less 
        than $25 per ton of each volatile organic compound; pollutant 
        regulated under United States Code, title 42, section 7411 or 
        7412 (section 111 or 112 of the federal Clean Air Act); and each 
        pollutant, except carbon monoxide, for which a national primary 
        ambient air quality standard has been promulgated; and 
           (3) for fiscal year 1994 and thereafter, the agency fee 
        rules may also result in the collection, in the aggregate, from 
        the sources listed in paragraph (b), of an amount not less than 
        $25 per ton of each pollutant not listed in clause (2) that is 
        regulated under Minnesota Rules, chapter 7005, or for which a 
        state primary ambient air quality standard has been adopted.  
        The agency must not include in the calculation of the aggregate 
        amount to be collected under the fee rules any amount in excess 
        of 4,000 tons per year of each air pollutant from a source. 
           (d) To cover the reasonable costs described in paragraph 
        (b), the agency shall provide in the rules promulgated under 
        paragraph (c) for an increase in the fee collected in each year 
        beginning after fiscal year 1993 by the percentage, if any, by 
        which the Consumer Price Index for the most recent calendar year 
        ending before the beginning of the year the fee is collected 
        exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the calendar year 1989.  
        For purposes of this paragraph the Consumer Price Index for any 
        calendar year is the average of the Consumer Price Index for 
        all-urban consumers published by the United States Department of 
        Labor, as of the close of the 12-month period ending on August 
        31 of each calendar year.  The revision of the Consumer Price 
        Index that is most consistent with the Consumer Price Index for 
        calendar year 1989 shall be used. 
           (e) Any money collected under paragraphs (b) to (d) must be 
        deposited in an air quality account in the environmental fund 
        and must be used solely for the activities listed in paragraph 
        (b).  
           (f) Persons who wish to construct or expand an air emission 
        facility may offer to reimburse the agency for the costs of 
        staff overtime or consultant services needed to expedite permit 
        review.  The reimbursement shall be in addition to fees imposed 
        by paragraphs (a) to (d).  When the agency determines that it 
        needs additional resources to review the permit application in 
        an expedited manner, and that expediting the review would not 
        disrupt air permitting program priorities, the agency may accept 
        the reimbursement.  Reimbursements accepted by the agency are 
        appropriated to the agency for the purpose of reviewing the 
        permit application.  Reimbursement by a permit applicant shall 
        precede and not be contingent upon issuance of a permit and 
        shall not affect the agency's decision on whether to issue or 
        deny a permit, what conditions are included in a permit, or the 
        application of state and federal statutes and rules governing 
        permit determinations. 
           Sec. 2.  [REPORT.] 
           By June 1, 1995, the commissioner of the pollution control 
        agency shall submit to the chairs of the environment and natural 
        resources policy and finance committees of the house of 
        representatives and the senate a report detailing the agency's 
        experience under section 1, paragraph (f), including: 
           (1) the number of requests for expedited permit review; 
           (2) the number of staff hours used for each expedited 
        review; 
           (3) the amount of reimbursements received by the agency 
        from each person who requested expedited review; 
           (4) an indication of whether expedited review results in a 
        sufficiently thorough examination of all aspects of a project or 
        operation; and 
           (5) an analysis of the effect of expedited review on 
        routine review of permit requests for other businesses or 
        individuals. 
           Presented to the governor May 6, 1994 
           Signed by the governor May 10, 1994, 4:02 p.m.