June 24, 2004

Waste Management Board Approves New Permit Fee Regulations

On Friday June 18th, the Virginia Waste Management Board approved final regulations to incorporate new statutory provisions for annual permit fees adopted during the legislative session of 2004. Specifically, the Board approved 9 VAC 20-90 – Solid Waste Management Facility Permit Action Fees and Annual Fees - Amendment #2 (Immediate Final Rule), effective July 1, 2004. The regulation has been modified to include the new requirements from the Code of Virginia and to establish appropriate administrative procedures for implementing the new annual fee requirements. This regulation establishes procedures for the payment of annual fees, including submission procedures, procedures for payment of fees in four installments, methods of payments, and penalties for late payments.

This regulation eliminates fees for minor permit amendments, reduces the major permit amendment fees, establishes major permit amendment fees for permit Modules XIV through XVII, and incorporates an annual fee per ton of waste disposed at permitted facilities. The annual fee must be paid by any person operating a permitted facility for the disposal, storage, or treatment of nonhazardous solid waste. Specifically, the annual fee applies to owners of noncaptive industrial landfills, construction and demolition debris landfills, sanitary landfills, incinerators, and energy recovery facilities. If this tonnage fee is greater than $8,000 per year, owners may opt to make quarterly payments; otherwise, payments will be due beginning October 1, 2004, and annually thereafter. However, an exception will be made this year, where an owner may defer payment until January 1, 2005. This option is not available to owners who are making quarterly payments. This annual fee also applies to owners of landfills which are currently in the post-closure care period as well as owners of composting facilities, material recovery facilities, and transfer stations. For owners of facilities engaged in multiple activities under the provisions of one permit, multiple annual fees may be assessed. Annual fee discounts exist for environmental excellence program participants; however, they will not become effective until 2005.

Covered facilities and annual fees include:
• Non-captive industrial landfills - $8,000;
• Construction and demolition debris landfills - $4,000;
• Composting facilities - $500;
• Regulated medical waste facilities - $1,000;
• Materials recovery facilities - $2,000;
• Transfer stations - $2,000;
• Post-closure care facilities - $500.

Sanitary landfills shall be assessed a two part fee based on their annual tonnage as follows:

Base Tonnage to Maximum Tonnage	Base Tonnage Fee	Additional Fee Per Ton Over Base Tonnage
Up to 10,000	$1,000	none
10,001 to 100,000	$1,000	$0.09
100,001 to 250,000	$10,000	$0.09
250,001 to 500,000	$23,500	$0.075
500,001 to 1,000,000	$42,250	$0.06
1,000,001 to 1,500,000	$72,250	$0.05
Over 1,500,000	$97,250	$0.04

Incinerators and energy recovery facilities shall be assessed a fee based upon their annual tonnage as follows:

Annual Tonnage	Fee
10,000 or less	$2,000
10,001 to 50,000	$3,000
50,001 to 100,000	$4,000
100,001 or more	$5,000

Annual fee discounts for environmental excellence program participants are available. These fee reductions are not effective until 2005. Facilities that achieve the Environmental Enterprise (E2) designation are eligible for a 10% fee reduction for up to three years. Facilities achieving the Exemplary Environmental Enterprise (E3) designation are eligible for a 20% fee reduction.

For facilities entering the corrective action program, the fee for Corrective Action, Module XIV ($22,860), is due upon submission of the Proposal for Presumptive Remedies or Assessment of Corrective Measures.

For more information, or if you wish to obtain a copy of the regulations, please see the following link: http://www.deq.virginia.gov/regulations/pdf/swreg.pdf

In other business, the Board approved as proposed regulation Amendment #4 –to the Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations – 9 VAC 20-80 – Waste Piles. Current regulations require applicants to obtain a full permit whereas this proposal would allow certain activities to be exempt from permitting requirements and provide expedited procedures for obtaining a permit for the management of other waste materials in piles.

The Board also approved final regulations for 9 VAC 20-60 Hazardous Waste Management Regulations, Amendment 17; 9 VAC 20-60-18 Hazardous Waste Management Regulations – Immediate Final Rule and 9 VAC 20-110 Transportation of Hazardous Materials – Immediate Final Rule 2003.

And finally, it was announced that long-time DEQ employee Harry Gregori will be retiring effective June 30, 2004. Mr. Gregori has served in a number of management positions with DEQ throughout his career including acting Director. The Board expressed their appreciation for his years of service and wished him well in his future endeavors.

Joyce Engineering, Inc., founded in 1983, is a consulting engineering firm specializing in solid waste management consulting services.