HB 124

This bill makes the following changes and clarifications to present law concerning fees associated with environmental regulatory programs: (1) Specifies, for purposes of the Tennessee environmental protection fund, that the Tennessee board of water qu ality, oil and gas is required to adopt fees for the production of oil and gas and the commissioner of environment and conservation is required to set fees under the Mineral Test Hole Regulatory Act; and (2) Increases the maximum allowable amount of the air contaminant emissions fee from $18.75 to $38.00 per ton per year. Present law generally prohibits the commissioner of environment and conservation from issuing a permit for a coal ash disposal facility unless the plans for the disposal facility inclu de a liner and a final cap. It is an exception to the general prohibition if the use of coal ash is for: (1) Fill; (2) An agricultural use; (3) An engineered use as a feedstock to produce a product; or (4) A wastewater treatment unit. This bill adds a fifth exception for the disposal of coal ash in connection with a use described in (1) – (4) and as authorized by TDEC. This bill specifies that the general prohibition against issuing permits for coal ash disposal facilities that do not have a l i ner and a final cap does not prevent the commissioner from issuing a permit for the disposal of coal combustion residuals in a coal combustion residuals disposal unit in accordance with rules adopted by the board. This bill defines "coal combustion resid uals"" as fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization materials generated from burning coal for the purpose of generating electricity by electric utilities and independent power producers. This bill defines ""coal combustion residuals di s posal unit"" as landfills, lateral expansions of landfills, surface impoundments, and locations used for the disposal, storage, processing, or treatment of coal combustion residuals and minor quantities of other associated industrial wastes, such as nonput r escible nonhazardous wastes resulting from operations ancillary to power generation, surface impoundment closure, and landfill construction. Present law limits the filing/processing fee for a solid waste landfill permit to $10, 000. Present law limits the annual maintenance fee for a solid waste landfill to $15, 000. This bill authorizes TDEC to recover against a person TDEC's direct and indirect costs, including administrative costs, incurred through the regulation of coal combustion residuals disposal units as provided by rules adopted by the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas. The rules must establish an annual cap and may include costs associated with permitting, oversight, supervision, investigation, regulation, and remediation activiti e s relative to coal combustion residuals disposal units. This bill prohibits TDEC from assessing fees for coal combustion residuals disposal units under its general authority to charge fees for the services and functions it performs, if TEDC seeks recover y of its costs pursuant to this paragraph. Under present law, certain divisions of TDEC are prohibited from establishing a fee schedule that results in a ratio between state appropriations and environmental protection fees, exclusive of penalties and dama ges, in which the environmental protection fees constitute a higher percentage of the total funds expended by the division than certain ratios specified in statute, which represents an approximation of the time spent by the divisions in activity that prot e cts the public and the environment generally to that spent addressing a particular entity such as in technical assistance, permitting, inspection or enforcement. This bill adds that, for the division of mineral and geologic resources, the ratio is: Envi r onmental protection fees, 58%; and state appropriations, 42%."