March 10, 2003

Public Hearing on Proposed Amendments to
Permit Fee Regulations for Solid and Hazardous Waste
and Water Protection Permits

On March 6, 2003, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hosted a public hearing on three draft regulatory amendments, all involving fee schedules for permit actions. Each proposed regulation is designed to become effective upon the termination of the current emergency regulations that are in effect from July 1, 2002, until June 30, 2003. The emergency regulations tripled the original fees of each respective regulation (solid waste, hazardous waste, and water protection permits).

The three amended regulations each contain a two-part fee schedule: the first part will become effective on July 1, 2003, and will continue the current tripled fees until June 30, 2004; the second part becomes effective July 1, 2004, at which time the fee schedules will revert to either the original fees (hazardous waste and water permits), or to the original fees as adjusted for inflation (solid waste fees), as described below.

The second part of the two-part solid waste fee schedule, which will become effective on July 1, 2004, will be the original (1992) fee schedule adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which is calculated monthly. The draft amended regulations contain a table of these new fees, calculated using the August 2002 CPI-U. Please note that when these regulations are finalized and brought before the Waste Board for approval, these fees will be recalculated based on the most recent CPI-U, which will most likely be that for the month of February 2003. Therefore, there may be some changes to the fees as currently published in the draft regulations; however, the changes should be slight.

No public comments were made at the hearing. Public comments will be accepted by DEQ until March 28, 2003. Copies of the draft regulations can be obtained through the Town Hall Web Page at http://www.townhall.state.va.us/, or you may call Tara Hansen at the Richmond office number below for copies.

If you have any questions regarding this Bulletin, please contact us by email or at (804) 355-4520 (Richmond) or (336) 323-0092 (Greensboro).