§ 81-1505.04 — Annual emission fee; payment; amount; adjustment; allocation of costs; department; duties; report

Nebraska § 81-1505.04

• Jurisdiction: Nebraska
• Ch. 81: State Administrative Departments

Text

(1)(a) The department shall collect an annual emission fee from major
sources of air pollution. Each major source shall pay the emission fee for
regulated pollutants in the amount of twenty-five dollars per ton per pollutant
or as adjusted pursuant to this section. The fee shall be based upon the amount
of emissions of each regulated pollutant as reported or estimated by the source
in the previous calendar year, but fees shall not be paid on amounts in excess
of four thousand tons per year for any regulated pollutant.
(b) Beginning with calendar year 2001 emissions, fees shall not be paid
for a mid-sized electric generation facility on amounts in excess of four
hundred tons per year for any regulated pollutant.
(c) A mid-sized electric generation facility owned by a municipality
shall continue to be considered a separate mid-sized electric generation facility
for purposes of this section even if the facility is subsequently permitted
with another general unit larger than one hundred fifteen megawatts under
separate ownership. Each facility under separate ownership shall be considered
a separate major source for purposes of this section.
(d) For purposes of this section, mid-sized electric generation facility
means a facility that:
(i) Uses coal as the primary source of fuel in the facility's largest
generation unit;
(ii) Has a name plate generating capacity of between seventy and one
hundred fifteen megawatts in the facility's largest generation unit; and
(iii) Is not operating in a political subdivision which has been delegated
the authority to enforce the air quality permit program within its jurisdiction.
(2)(a) The emission fee may be increased or decreased annually by the
department by the percentage difference between the Consumer Price Index for
the most recent year ending before the beginning of such year and the Consumer
Price Index for the year 1989 or as required to pay all reasonable direct
and indirect costs of developing and administering the air quality permit
program. For purposes of this section, Consumer Price Index means the change
in the price of goods and services for all urban consumers published by the
United States Department of Labor at the close of the twelve-month period
ending on August 31 of each year.
(b) For purposes of this section, reasonable direct and indirect costs
of developing and administering the air quality permit program, as required
under the federal Clean Air Act, as the act existed on May 31, 2001, 42 U.S.C.
7661a through f, include:
(i) Consideration of any associated overhead charges for personnel,
equipment, buildings, and vehicles;
(ii) Reviewing and acting on any application for a permit or permit
revision;
(iii) Implementing and enforcing the terms of any permit, not including
any court costs or other costs associated with any formal enforcement action;
(iv) Emissions and ambient monitoring, including adequate resources
to audit and inspect source-operated monitoring programs;
(v) Preparing generally applicable regulations or guidance;
(vi) Modeling, analyses, or demonstrations;
(vii) Preparing inventories and tracking emissions;
(viii) Developing and implementing any emissions trading programs as
defined by the department; and
(ix) Providing support to sources under the Small Business Compliance
Advisory Panel.
(c) The council shall establish procedures for the method of calculation
and payment of the emission fee in a manner consistent with this section and
shall establish the definition of or a table listing the pollutants which
are regulated pollutants and a definition of major source. Such definitions
or listing shall comply with and not be more stringent than the requirements
of the federal Clean Air Act, as the act existed on May 31, 2001, 42 U.S.C.
7401 et seq.
(3) On or before January 1 of each year, the department shall submit electronically a report to
the Legislature in sufficient detail to document all direct and indirect program
costs incurred in the previous fiscal year in carrying out the air quality
permit program. The Appropriations Committee of the Legislature shall review
such report in its analysis of executive programs in order to verify that
revenue generated from emission fees was used solely to offset appropriate
and reasonable costs associated with the air quality permit program. The report
shall identify costs incurred by the department to administer the permit program
for each major source. In addition, the department shall identify costs incurred
by primary activity not specific to a major source.
(4) The department shall administer a cost tracking system which shall
show costs for each major source and costs for each primary activity that
is not specific to a major source. The department shall consult with interested
parties regarding identification of primary activities to be tracked by the
cost tracking system.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1992, LB 1257, § 82; Laws 1996, LB 634, § 1; Laws 2001, LB 461, § 7; Laws 2005, LB 94, § 1; Laws 2006, LB 872, § 4; Laws 2011, LB156, § 1; Laws 2012, LB782, § 202.