On December 10, 2010, the Air Quality Division of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will conduct a stakeholder meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to notify the regulated community and entities with a Title V permit of the pending rulemaking for the air emissions fee rule, 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 30 Section 101.27 . The air emissions fee rule is in the process of being revised to ensure adequate funds are generated to support the Title V program. Comments and suggestions will be received from the regulated community in response to this proposed rulemaking.
Per Texas Clean Air Act, §382.0621, Operating Permit Fee, the agency shall assess and collect an annual fee based on emissions for each source that is subject to the permitting requirements of Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Federal requirements under 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 70, Section 70.9 state that the revenue generated from the collection of this fee should be sufficient to fund the direct and indirect costs for administering the federal operating permits program.
Starting in fiscal year (FY) 2012, emissions fee revenue based on FY 2010 calculations is projected to be insufficient to adequately fund the operating costs associated with the federal operating permit program. The FY 2011 budget to administer the Federal Clean Air Act Title V (operating permit) program is estimated to be $35 million while the revenues are expected to be $26.2 million. This shortfall is expected to continue unless the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) pursues a rule change to revise how emissions fees are calculated.
In order to meet Federal requirements, TCEQ staff recommends revising the rule to allow the base rate to be adjusted from $25 to $35 and allow annual adjustments of the base rate as required for adequate fee revenue. Staff also recommends taking comments during rule proposal on removing the carbon monoxide (CO) fraction from the fee assessment equation. Because the CO fraction varies annually based on the previous year’s inventory, removing the fraction would improve the stability of the fee and could reduce the amount of the required base adjustment. Stakeholder input is sought to assist the state in determining the most appropriate approach in developing rules to meet federal requirements.
Teleconference locations have been added to provide increased accessibility to the Emissions Fee Stakeholder meeting. The start time has been moved from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM to allow for teleconferencing of the meeting.
The meeting will be held on December 10, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the TCEQ Campus, 12100 Park 35 Circle, Building E Room 254, Austin, TX 78753.
Regional Teleconference Locations:
- Houston Region: 5425 Polk Street Suite H, Houston, TX 77023-1452
- Dallas-Fort Worth Region: 2309 Gravel Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76118-6951
- Corpus Christi Region: NRC Building Room 1003, 6300 Ocean Drive Unit 5839, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5839
- Beaumont Region: 3870 Eastex Freeway, Beaumont, TX 77703-1830