10.1-1322 - Permits.
§ 10.1-1322. Permits.
A. Pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board and subject to §10.1-1322.01, permits may be issued, amended, revoked or terminated andreissued by the Department and may be enforced under the provisions of thischapter in the same manner as regulations and orders. Failure to comply withany condition of a permit shall be considered a violation of this chapter andinvestigations and enforcement actions may be pursued in the same manner asis done with regulations and orders of the Board under the provisions of thischapter.
B. The Board by regulation may prescribe and provide for the payment andcollection of annual permit program fees for air pollution sources. Annualpermit program fees shall not be collected until (i) the federalEnvironmental Protection Agency approves the Board's operating permit programestablished pursuant to Title V of the federal Clean Air Act or (ii) theGovernor determines that such fees are needed earlier to maintain primacyover the program. The annual fees shall be based on the actual emissions (ascalculated or estimated) of each regulated pollutant, as defined in § 502 ofthe federal Clean Air Act, in tons per year, not to exceed 4,000 tons peryear of each pollutant for each source. The annual permit program fees shallnot exceed a base year amount of $25 per ton using 1990 as the base year, andshall be adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index as described in § 502of the federal Clean Air Act. Permit program fees for air pollution sourceswho receive state operating permits in lieu of Title V operating permitsshall be paid in the first year and thereafter shall be paid biennially. Thefees shall approximate the direct and indirect costs of administering andenforcing the permit program, and of administering the small businessstationary source technical and environmental compliance assistance programas required by the federal Clean Air Act. The Board shall also collect permitapplication fee amounts not to exceed $30,000 from applicants for a permitfor a new major stationary source. The permit application fee amount paidshall be credited towards the amount of annual fees owed pursuant to thissection during the first two years of the source's operation. The fees shallbe exempt from statewide indirect costs charged and collected by theDepartment of Accounts.
C. When adopting regulations for permit program fees for air pollutionsources, the Board shall take into account the permit fees charged inneighboring states and the importance of not placing existing or prospectiveindustry in the Commonwealth at a competitive disadvantage.
D. On or before January 1 of every even-numbered year, the Department shallmake an evaluation of the implementation of the permit fee program andprovide this evaluation in writing to the Senate Committee on Agriculture,Conservation and Natural Resources, the Senate Committee on Finance, theHouse Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Agriculture,Chesapeake and Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Finance. Thisevaluation shall include a report on the total fees collected, the amount ofgeneral funds allocated to the Department, the Department's use of the feesand the general funds, the number of permit applications received, the numberof permits issued, the progress in eliminating permit backlogs, and thetimeliness of permit processing.
E. To the extent allowed by federal law and regulations, priority forutilization of permit fees shall be given to cover the costs of processingpermit applications in order to more efficiently issue permits.
F. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall not supplant or reduce inany way the general fund appropriation to the Department.
G. The permit fees shall apply to permit programs in existence on July 1,1992, any additional permit programs that may be required by the federalgovernment and administered by the Board, or any new permit program requiredby the Code of Virginia.
H. The permit program fee regulations promulgated pursuant to this sectionshall not become effective until July 1, 1993.
I. [Expired.]
(1978, c. 818, § 10-17.30:1; 1988, c. 891; 1992, c. 488; 1993, c. 711; 1994,c. 227; 1995, c. 158; 2004, cc. 249, 324; 2005, c. 633; 2008, cc. 276, 557.)