Ariz. Admin. Code § 18-2-326

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 45, November 8, 2024

Section R18-2-326 - Fees Related to Individual Permits

A. Source Categories. The owner or operator of a source required to have an air quality permit from the Director shall pay the fees described in this Section unless authorized to operate under a general permit issued under Article 5. The fees are based on a source being classified in one of the following three categories:

1. Class I Title V sources are those required or that elect to have a permit under R18-2-302(B)(1).

2. Class II Title V sources are those required to have a permit under R18-2-302(B)(2) and that are subject to new source performance standards or national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants.

3. Class II Non-Title V sources are those required to have a permit under R18-2-302(B)(2) and that are not subject to new source performance standards or national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants.

B. Fees for Permit Actions.

1. The owner or operator of a Class I Title V source, Class II Title V source, or Class II Non-Title V source shall pay to the Director the following:

a. $133.50 per hour, adjusted annually under subsection (H), for all permit processing time required for a billable permit action; and

b. The actual costs of public notice conducted according to R18-2-330.

2. The Director may require periodic payment of permit processing fees based on the most recent accounting of time spent processing the permit including any fees for contractors.

3. Upon completion of permit processing activities other than issuance or denial of the permit or permit revision, the Director shall send notice of the decision to the applicant along with a final itemized bill. The maximum fee for any billable permit action for a non-Title V source is $25,000. Except as provided in subsection (G), the Director shall not issue a permit or permit revision until the final bill is paid in full.

C. Class I Title V Fees. The owner or operator of a Class I Title V source that has undergone initial startup by January 1 shall annually pay to the Director an administrative fee plus an emissions-based fee as follows:

1. The applicable administrative fee from the table below, as adjusted annually under subsection (H). The fee is due by February 1 or 60 days after the Director mails the invoice under subsection (F), whichever is later.

Class I Title V Source Category	Administrative Fee
Aerospace	$20,800
Air Curtain incinerator	$750
Cement Plants	$63,690
Combustion/Boilers	$15,480
Compressor Stations	$12,730
Electronics	$20,490
Expandable Foam	$14,680
Foundries	$19,520
Landfills	$15,960
Lime Plants	$60,160
Copper & Nickel Mines	$15,000
Gold Mines	$15,000
Mobile Home Manufacturing	$14,830
Paper Mills	$20,480
Paper Coaters	$15,480
Petroleum Products Terminal Facilities	$22,730
Polymeric Fabric Coaters	$20,480
Reinforced Plastics	$15,480
Semiconductor Fabrication	$26,930
Copper Smelters	$63,690
Utilities - Fossil Fuel Fired Except Coal	$16,440
Utilities - Coal Fired	$32,570
Vitamin/Pharmaceutical Manufacturing	$15,800
Wood Furniture	$15,480
Others	$20,490
Others with Continuous Emissions Monitoring	$20,490

2. An emissions-based fee of $38.25 per ton of actual emissions of all regulated pollutants emitted during the previous calendar year ending 12 months earlier. The fee is adjusted annually under subsection (C)(2)(d) and due by February 1 or 60 days after the Director mails the invoice under subsection (F), whichever is later.

a. For purposes of this Section, "actual emissions" means the quantity of all regulated pollutants emitted during the calendar year, as determined by the annual emissions inventory under R18-2-327.

b. For purposes of this Section, regulated pollutants consist of the following:

i. Nitrogen oxides and any volatile organic compounds;

ii. Conventional air pollutants, except carbon monoxide and ozone;

iii. Any pollutant that is subject to any standard promulgated under Section 111 of the Act, including fluorides, sulfuric acid mist, hydrogen sulfide, total reduced sulfur, and reduced sulfur compounds; and

iv. Any federally listed hazardous air pollutant.

c. For purposes of this Section, the following emissions of regulated pollutants are excluded from a source's actual emissions:

i. Emissions of any regulated pollutant from the source in excess of 4,000 tons per year;

ii. Emissions of any regulated pollutant already included in the actual emissions for the source, such as a federally listed hazardous air pollutant that is already accounted for as a VOC or as PM₁₀;

iii. Emissions from insignificant activities listed in the permit application for the source under R18-2-304(F)(8);

iv. Fugitive emissions of PM₁₀ from activities other than crushing, belt transfers, screening, or stacking; and

v. Fugitive emissions of VOC from solution-extraction units.

d. The Director shall adjust the rate for emission-based fees every November 1, after December 4, 2007, by multiplying $38.25 by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the most recent year, and then dividing by the CPI for the year 2007. The Consumer Price Index for any 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 that year.

D. Class II Title V Fees. The owner or operator of a Class II Title V source that has undergone initial startup by January 1 shall pay the applicable administrative fee from the table below, adjusted under subsection (H), for that calendar year, and annually thereafter. The fee is due by February 1 or 60 days after the Director mails the invoice under subsection (F), whichever is later.

Class II Title V Source Category	Administrative Fee
Synthetic minor sources, except portable sources	Administrative fee from Class I Title V table for category
Stationary	$8,070
Portables	$8,070
Small Source	$750

E. Class II Non-Title V Fees. The owner or operator of a Class II Non-Title V source that has undergone initial startup by January 1 shall pay the applicable inspection fee from the table below, adjusted under subsection (H), for that calendar year, and annually thereafter. The fee is due by February 1 or 60 days after the Director mails the invoice under subsection (F), whichever is later.

Class II Non-Title V Source Category	Inspection Fee
Stationary	$5,230
Portables	$5,230
Gasoline Service Stations	$750

F. The Director shall mail the owner or operator of each source an invoice for all fees due under subsections (C), (D), or (E) by December 1.

G. Any person who receives a final itemized bill from the Director under this Section for a billable permit action may request an informal review of the hours billed and may pay the bill under protest as provided below:

1. The request shall be made in writing, and received by the Director within 30 days of the date of the final bill. Unless the Director and person agree otherwise, the informal review shall take place within 30 days after the Director's receipt of the request. The Director shall arrange the date and location of the informal review with the person at least 10 business days before the informal review. The Director shall review whether the amounts of time billed are correct and reasonable for the tasks involved. The Director shall mail his or her decision on the informal review to the person within 10 business days after the informal review date.

2. The Director's decision after informal review shall become final unless, within 30 days after person's receipt of the informal review decision, the person requests a hearing under R18-1-202.

3. If the final itemized bill is paid under protest, the Director shall take final action on the permit or permit revision.

H. The Director shall adjust the hourly rate every November 1, to the nearest 10 cents per hour, after December 4, 2007, by multiplying $133.50 by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the most recent year, and then dividing by the CPI for the year 2007. The Director shall adjust the administrative or inspection fees listed in subsections (C), (D), and (E) every November 1, to the nearest $10, beginning December 4, 2007, by multiplying the administrative or inspection fee by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the most recent year, and then dividing by the CPI for the year 2007. The Consumer Price Index for any 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 that year.

I. An applicant for a Class I or Class II permit or permit revision may request that the Director provide accelerated processing of the application by providing the Director written notice 60 days before filing the application. The request shall be accompanied by an initial fee of $15,000. The fee is non-refundable to the extent of the Director's costs for accelerating the processing if the Director undertakes the accelerated processing described below:

1. If an applicant requests accelerated permit processing, the Director may, to the extent practicable, undertake to process the permit or permit revision according to the following schedule:

a. For applications for initial Class I and II permits under R18-2-302 or significant permit revisions under R18-2-320, the Director shall issue or deny the proposed permit or permit revision within 120 days after the Director determines that the application is complete.

b. For minor permit revisions under R18-2-319, the Director shall issue or deny the permit revision within 60 days after receiving a complete application.

2. At any time after an applicant requests accelerated permit processing, the Director may require additional advance payments based on the most recent estimate of additional costs.

3. Upon completion of permit processing activities but before issuance or denial of the permit or permit revision, the Director shall send notice of the decision to the applicant along with a final bill. The maximum fee for any billable permit action for a non-Title V source is $25,000. The final bill shall include all regular permit processing and other fees due, and, in addition, the difference between the cost of accelerating the permit application, including any costs incurred by the Director in contracting for, hiring, or supervising the work of outside consultants, and all advance payments submitted for accelerated processing. In the event all payments made exceed actual accelerated permit costs, the Director shall refund the excess advance payments. Nothing in this subsection affects the public participation requirements of R18-2-330, or EPA and affected state review as required under R18-2-307 or R18-2-319.

J. Inactive Sources. The owner or operator of a permitted source that has undergone initial startup but was shut down for the entire preceding year shall pay 50 percent of the administrative or inspection fee required under subsection (C), (D), or (E). The owner or operator of a source claiming inactive status under this subsection shall submit a letter to the Director by December 15 of the calendar year for which the source was inactive. Termination of a permit does not relieve a source of any past fees due.

K. If an applicant uses the Tier 4 method for conducting a risk management analysis (RMA) according to R18-2-1708(B), the applicant shall pay any costs incurred by the Director in contracting for, hiring or supervising work of outside consultants.

L. Transition.

1. Subsections (A) through (J) of this Section are effective December 4, 2007. The first administrative or inspection fees are due on February 1, 2008.

2. Except as provided in subsection (b), all fees incurred after December 4, 2007, are payable in accordance with the rates contained in this Section.

a. Emission-based fees for calendar year 2006 shall be billed at $38.25 per ton and be due February 1, 2008.

b. The hourly rates and maximum fees for a new permit or permit revision are those in effect when the application for the permit or revision is determined to be complete.

c. Fees accrued but not yet paid before the effective date of this Section remain as obligations to be paid to the Department.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R18-2-326

Emergency rule adopted effective September 17, 1991, pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1026, valid for only 90 days (Supp. 91-3). Emergency rule re-adopted without change effective December 16, 1991, pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1026, valid for only 90 days (Supp. 91-4). Emergency expired; text deleted (Supp. 93-1). New Section adopted effective November 15, 1993 (Supp. 93-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 7 A.A.R. 5670, effective January 1, 2002 (Supp. 01-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 10 A.A.R. 4767, effective November 4, 2004 (Supp. 04-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 13 A.A.R. 4379, effective December 4, 2007 (Supp. 07-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 23 A.A.R. 333, effective 3/21/2017. Amended by final expedited rulemaking at 30 A.A.R. 2422, effective 7/3/2024.