§ 12-9-10 — Permit related fees; costs of public notice

(a) The owner or operator of any stationary source shall pay to the division as a condition of any permit required under this article or under Ga. L. 1967, p. 581, as amended, an annual fee, or its equivalent over some other period, sufficient to cover: (1) The reasonable cost of reviewing and acting upon any application for a permit under this article; (2) The reasonable cost incurred after July 1, 1978, of implementing and enforcing the terms and conditions of any permit issued under this article or under Ga. L. 1967, p. 581, as amended, regardless of whether the permit was issued before or after July 1, 1978; provided, however, such cost shall not include any court cost or other costs associated with any judicial enforcement action; (3) The reasonable cost of employing and training adequate personnel to implement the permitting program in accordance with this article; (4) The reasonable cost of acquiring the necessary equipment and facilities to implement the permitting program in accordance with this article; (5) Emissions and ambient monitoring; (6) Preparing generally applicable regulations or guidance; (7) Modeling, analyses, and demonstrations; and (8) Preparing inventories and tracking emissions. (b) The total amount of fees collected shall not be less than $25.00 per ton of emissions allowed in the permit of each regulated pollutant as defined in 42 U.S.C. Section 7661a(b)(3)(B)(ii) of the federal act; provided, however, that to the extent allowed under the federal act, the board may establish a lesser amount which may include fees based on actual emissions, if approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as fulfilling the requirements of the federal act. No fee shall be collected for more than 4,000 tons per year of any individual regulated pollutant emitted by any source or any group of sources located within a contiguous area and under common control. No fee shall be collected for the emission of carbon monoxide which is not a regulated pollutant as defined in 42 U.S.C. Section 7661a(b)(3)(B)(ii) of the federal act. (c) The fee collected shall be increased consistent with the need to cover the costs authorized in subsection (a) of this Code section by the percentage, if any, by which the Consumer Price Index for the most recent calendar year ending before the beginning of such year exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the calendar year 1989. For purposes of this subsection the Consumer Price Index is the average of the Consumer Price Index for all-urban consumers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, as of the close of the 12 month period ending on August 31 of each calendar year, and the revision of the Consumer Price Index which is most consistent with the Consumer Price Index for 1989 shall be used. (d) The director may reduce any permit fee required under this article to take into account the financial resources of small business stationary sources as defined under the federal act or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. (e) The owner or operator of any stationary source shall, in addition to the fees provided for in subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section, pay any cost or expense associated with public notices or notifications required pursuant to this article or the federal act. (f) Collection of fees pursuant to this Code section shall preclude collection of any air quality control permit fees by any other state or local governmental authority. (g) Collection of fees pursuant to this Code section will not begin prior to July 1, 1992, and shall only apply to emissions occurring after January 1, 1991. (h) The General Assembly declares its intent that the fee provisions of this Code section shall be consistent with and shall meet the requirements of the federal act but shall not duplicate the fees charged thereunder. The General Assembly further declares its intent to ensure that any permit fee collected by the division shall be utilized solely to cover all reasonable direct and indirect costs required to support the permit program as set forth in the federal act.