§ 27A-2-7-121 — Annual fee - Exemptions - Expenditure of funds.

A. Every hazardous waste treatment facility, storage facility, underground injection facility, disposal facility, or off-site facility that recycles hazardous waste subject to the provisions of the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act shall pay to the Department of Environmental Quality an annual fee on the amount of hazardous waste managed by such facility. 1. Subject to paragraphs 2 and 7 of this subsection, such fees shall be: a. Nine Dollars and fifty cents ($9.50) per ton for on- site or off-site storage, treatment or land disposal, b. Four Dollars ($4.00) per ton for off-site recycling, including regeneration, or c. three cents ($0.03) per gallon for on-site or off-site underground injection. 2. There shall be a minimum fee per facility as follows: a. except as provided in subparagraph d of this paragraph, any person owning or operating an off-site hazardous waste treatment facility or disposal facility shall pay a total fee of not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) each state fiscal year, b. any person owning or operating an on-site hazardous waste treatment facility, storage facility, or disposal facility shall pay a total fee of not less than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) each state fiscal year. The annual fee for the on-site disposal of hazardous waste by underground injection shall not exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00), c. any person owning or operating an off-site facility for the storage or recycling of hazardous waste shall pay a total fee of not less than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) each state fiscal year; provided, any such off-site recycling facility which consistently recycles fewer than ten (10) tons of hazardous waste per calendar month shall not be subject to this minimum annual fee. For the purpose of this subparagraph, storage includes physical separation or combining of wastes solely to facilitate efficient storage at the facility and/or efficient transportation, and d. any person owning or operating an off-site facility which accepts hazardous waste exclusively for the purpose of conducting research and design tests shall pay a total fee of not less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) each state fiscal year. 3. Off-site facilities may charge persons contracting for the services of the facility their proportional share of the fees required by the provisions of this section. 4. The facility shall become liable for payment of the fee on each ton or gallon of hazardous waste at the time it is received. For purposes of on-site facilities, receipt is deemed to have occurred when the waste is first managed in any unit or manner that requires a hazardous waste permit. The fee shall be payable by the facility to the Department only as provided for in subsection C of this section. 5. The fee imposed by the provisions of this section shall be payable only once without regard to any subsequent handling of the hazardous waste. The fee shall be based on the purpose for which the waste was received by the facility. In no event shall a facility be required to pay a fee on each step or process involved in the storage, treatment, or disposal of the waste at the facility or a related facility under common control. 6. In computing the amount of the fee specified in subparagraph b of paragraph 1 of subsection A of this section for the off-site recycling or regeneration of hazardous waste, the assessment for regeneration shall be made on a dry weight basis. 7. If a generator of characteristic hazardous waste or listed hazardous waste treats the waste on-site to meet Best Demonstrated Available Technology Standards and disposes of the waste on-site, the waste shall be subject to a reduced treatment or on-site disposal fee of one-half (1/2) the rate required by subparagraph a of paragraph 1 of this subsection; provided, such rate reduction shall not exceed Twenty-two Thousand Dollars ($22,000.00) per calendar year. B. The following facilities shall not be required to pay the fee required by the provisions of this section: 1. Facilities engaged only in the on-site recycling of hazardous waste; and 2. Facilities which have not received new hazardous waste within the preceding state fiscal year. C. Payment of the fees required by this section shall be due quarterly for hazardous waste received by the facility during the prior calendar quarter. Such quarterly payments shall be due on the first day of the month of the following quarter. All payments shall be made within thirty (30) days from the date they become due. D. The fees required by this section shall be paid in lieu of the monitoring fees imposed in subsection B of Section 2-7-119 of this title. All facilities subject to the provisions of this section shall not be required to pay or collect any additional fees for waste disposal unless specifically required by the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act. E. All fees and other monies received by the Department pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be expended solely for the purposes specified in this section. 1. Ten percent (10%) of the fees collected from an off-site hazardous waste facility pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be deposited to the credit of the Special Economic Development Trust Funds. The funds for the Trusts accruing pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be distributed to each Trust established in proportion to the fees generated by the off-site hazardous waste facilities within the Trust area. 2. The Department shall expend monies received pursuant to the provisions of this section for one or more of the following purposes: a. the administration of the provisions of the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act, b. the development of an inventory of hazardous wastes currently produced in Oklahoma and management needs for the identified wastes, c. the implementation of information exchange, technical assistance, public information, and educational programs, d. the development and encouragement of waste reduction plans for Oklahoma waste generators, or e. increased inspection of hazardous waste facilities which may include full-time inspectors at off-site hazardous waste facilities. F. To the extent that fees received pursuant to this section shall exceed the purposes specified in subsection E of this section, the Department shall only expend such funds for one or more of the following purposes: 1. Contributions required from the state pursuant to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act for remediation or related action upon a site within the state; 2. Response, including but not limited to containment and removal, to emergency situations involving spillage, leakage, emissions or other discharge of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to the environment where a responsible party cannot be timely identified or found or compelled to take appropriate emergency action to adequately protect human health and the environment; 3. State-funded remediation of sites contaminated by hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents so as to present a threat to human health or the environment, to the extent that a responsible party cannot be timely identified or found or compelled to take such action, or is unable to take such action; 4. Costs incurred in pursuing an enforcement action to compel a responsible party to undertake appropriate response or remedial actions, or to recover from a responsible party monies expended by the state, as described in paragraphs 1 through 3 of this subsection; or 5. Financial assistance to municipalities or counties for the purposes and under the conditions specified in Section 2-7-305 of this title.

Legislative History

Added by Laws 1990, c. 196, § 9, operative July 2, 1990. Amended by Laws 1991, c. 173, § 4; Laws 1992, c. 201, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 1993; Laws 1992, c. 403, § 15, eff. Sept. 1, 1992; Laws 1993, c. 145, § 104, eff. July 1, 1993. Renumbered from Title 63, § 1-2005.3A by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 359, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1994, c. 353, § 24, eff. July 1, 1994; Laws 1996, c. 356, § 11, emerg. eff. June 14, 1996; Laws 2001, c. 191, § 1, emerg. eff. May 7, 2001; Laws 2021, c. 33, § 3, eff. July 1, 2021.