HF 1352

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to the environment; providing for water 
  1.3             quality testing compliance; appropriating money; 
  1.4             amending Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 116.07, 
  1.5             subdivision 4d, by adding a subdivision; proposing 
  1.6             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 115. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  [115.062] [WATER TESTING COMPLIANCE.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [CONDITION MONITORING; GOAL.] (a) The 
  1.10  commissioner must expand condition monitoring on streams and 
  1.11  lakes by a combination of existing agency monitoring efforts, 
  1.12  the use of citizen monitors, and application of remote sensing 
  1.13  technology in order to test water quality under state and 
  1.14  federal law. 
  1.15     (b) The testing goal by the year 2014 will be: 
  1.16     (1) water quality data to assess 33 percent of the state's 
  1.17  streams; 
  1.18     (2) water quality data to assess 100 percent of lakes over 
  1.19  500 acres; 
  1.20     (3) citizen secchi disk measurements and other water 
  1.21  quality data to assess all individual lakes over 100 acres; and 
  1.22     (4) citizen secchi disk measurements on 300 lakes less than 
  1.23  100 acres in size each per year. 
  1.24     Subd. 2.  [GROUNDWATER TESTING.] The commissioner must 
  1.25  establish a long-term groundwater monitoring network to track 
  1.26  trends in condition and identify groundwater impairment by 
  2.1   testing at least 200 wells by 2008 and posting this information 
  2.2   on their Web site. 
  2.3      Subd. 3.  [BIOLOGICAL TESTING.] The commissioner must 
  2.4   complete the calibration of the biological index system for 
  2.5   rivers and streams statewide by 2006. 
  2.6      Subd. 4.  [SPECIAL CONCERN TESTING.] The commissioner must 
  2.7   partner with the department of health and the state office of 
  2.8   the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct special testing on 
  2.9   industrial and household waste compounds, hormones, and 
  2.10  pharmaceuticals which may have endocrine disruption or other 
  2.11  health effects to identify their presence in surface water and 
  2.12  groundwater benchmark sites.  The resulting data must be shared 
  2.13  with the commissioner of natural resources. 
  2.14     Subd. 5.  [AGENCY COOPERATION.] The commissioner of natural 
  2.15  resources must share water monitoring data done by the divisions 
  2.16  of waters, fisheries, wildlife, forestry, and ecological 
  2.17  services on a regular basis with the commissioner of the 
  2.18  pollution control agency. 
  2.19     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 116.07, 
  2.20  subdivision 4d, is amended to read: 
  2.21     Subd. 4d.  [PERMIT FEES.] (a) The agency may collect permit 
  2.22  fees in amounts not greater than those necessary to cover the 
  2.23  reasonable costs of reviewing and acting upon applications for 
  2.24  agency permits and implementing and enforcing the conditions of 
  2.25  the permits pursuant to agency rules, including costs for 
  2.26  monitoring and administration.  Permit fees shall not include 
  2.27  the costs of litigation.  The fee schedule must reflect 
  2.28  reasonable and routine permitting, implementation, and 
  2.29  enforcement costs.  The agency may impose an additional 
  2.30  enforcement fee to be collected for a period of up to two years 
  2.31  to cover the reasonable costs of implementing and enforcing the 
  2.32  conditions of a permit under the rules of the agency.  Any money 
  2.33  collected under this paragraph shall be deposited in the 
  2.34  environmental fund. 
  2.35     (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), and section 16A.1285, 
  2.36  subdivision 2, the agency shall collect an annual fee from the 
  3.1   owner or operator of all stationary sources, emission 
  3.2   facilities, emissions units, air contaminant treatment 
  3.3   facilities, treatment facilities, potential air contaminant 
  3.4   storage facilities, or storage facilities subject to the 
  3.5   requirement to obtain a permit under subchapter V of the federal 
  3.6   Clean Air Act, United States Code, title 42, section 7401 et 
  3.7   seq., or section 116.081.  The annual fee shall be used to pay 
  3.8   for all direct and indirect reasonable costs, including attorney 
  3.9   general costs, required to develop and administer the permit 
  3.10  program requirements of subchapter V of the federal Clean Air 
  3.11  Act, United States Code, title 42, section 7401 et seq., and 
  3.12  sections of this chapter and the rules adopted under this 
  3.13  chapter related to air contamination and noise.  Those costs 
  3.14  include the reasonable costs of reviewing and acting upon an 
  3.15  application for a permit; implementing and enforcing statutes, 
  3.16  rules, and the terms and conditions of a permit; emissions, 
  3.17  ambient, and deposition monitoring; preparing generally 
  3.18  applicable regulations; responding to federal guidance; 
  3.19  modeling, analyses, and demonstrations; preparing inventories 
  3.20  and tracking emissions; and providing information to the public 
  3.21  about these activities. 
  3.22     (c) The agency shall set fees that: 
  3.23     (1) will result in the collection, in the aggregate, from 
  3.24  the sources listed in paragraph (b), of an amount not less than 
  3.25  $25 per ton of each volatile organic compound; pollutant 
  3.26  regulated under United States Code, title 42, section 7411 or 
  3.27  7412 (section 111 or 112 of the federal Clean Air Act); and each 
  3.28  pollutant, except carbon monoxide, for which a national primary 
  3.29  ambient air quality standard has been promulgated; 
  3.30     (2) may result in the collection, in the aggregate, from 
  3.31  the sources listed in paragraph (b), of an amount not less than 
  3.32  $25 per ton of each pollutant not listed in clause (1) that is 
  3.33  regulated under this chapter or air quality rules adopted under 
  3.34  this chapter; and 
  3.35     (3) shall collect, in the aggregate, from the sources 
  3.36  listed in paragraph (b), the amount needed to match grant funds 
  4.1   received by the state under United States Code, title 42, 
  4.2   section 7405 (section 105 of the federal Clean Air Act). 
  4.3   The agency must not include in the calculation of the aggregate 
  4.4   amount to be collected under clauses (1) and (2) any amount in 
  4.5   excess of 4,000 tons per year of each air pollutant from a 
  4.6   source.  The increase in air permit fees to match federal grant 
  4.7   funds shall be a surcharge on existing fees.  The commissioner 
  4.8   may not collect the surcharge after the grant funds become 
  4.9   unavailable.  In addition, the commissioner shall use nonfee 
  4.10  funds to the extent practical to match the grant funds so that 
  4.11  the fee surcharge is minimized. 
  4.12     (d) To cover the reasonable costs described in paragraph 
  4.13  (b), the agency shall provide in the rules promulgated under 
  4.14  paragraph (c) for an increase in the fee collected in each year 
  4.15  by the percentage, if any, by which the Consumer Price Index for 
  4.16  the most recent calendar year ending before the beginning of the 
  4.17  year the fee is collected exceeds the Consumer Price Index for 
  4.18  the calendar year 1989.  For purposes of this paragraph the 
  4.19  Consumer Price Index for any calendar year is the average of the 
  4.20  Consumer Price Index for all-urban consumers published by the 
  4.21  United States Department of Labor, as of the close of the 
  4.22  12-month period ending on August 31 of each calendar year.  The 
  4.23  revision of the Consumer Price Index that is most consistent 
  4.24  with the Consumer Price Index for calendar year 1989 shall be 
  4.25  used. 
  4.26     (e) Any money collected under paragraphs (b) to (d) must be 
  4.27  deposited in an air quality account in the environmental fund 
  4.28  and must be used solely for the activities listed in paragraph 
  4.29  (b).  
  4.30     (f) Persons who wish to construct or expand a facility may 
  4.31  offer to reimburse the agency for the costs of staff overtime or 
  4.32  consultant services needed to expedite permit review.  The 
  4.33  reimbursement shall be in addition to fees imposed by law or 
  4.34  rule.  When the agency determines that it needs additional 
  4.35  resources to review the permit application in an expedited 
  4.36  manner, and that expediting the review would not disrupt 
  5.1   permitting program priorities, the agency may accept the 
  5.2   reimbursement.  Reimbursements accepted by the agency are 
  5.3   appropriated to the agency for the purpose of reviewing the 
  5.4   permit application.  Reimbursement by a permit applicant shall 
  5.5   precede and not be contingent upon issuance of a permit and 
  5.6   shall not affect the agency's decision on whether to issue or 
  5.7   deny a permit, what conditions are included in a permit, or the 
  5.8   application of state and federal statutes and rules governing 
  5.9   permit determinations. 
  5.10     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 116.07, is 
  5.11  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  5.12     Subd. 4l.  [SEWAGE SERVICE FEE.] (a) A commercial or 
  5.13  industrial business that discharges wastewater to a public 
  5.14  wastewater treatment system and is subject to a permit under 
  5.15  subdivision 4d, must pay a surcharge of 0.03 percent of their 
  5.16  current fee each month, but no more than $2,000 per month, to be 
  5.17  paid to the commissioner. 
  5.18     (b) Each resident in the state that pays a local utility 
  5.19  bill must also pay a surcharge of 1.4 percent on the sewage 
  5.20  portion of the utility bill each month, but no more than $1.50 
  5.21  per month to the local utility. 
  5.22     (c) Fees collected under paragraphs (a) and (b) shall be 
  5.23  deposited in a water quality testing account by the commissioner 
  5.24  and used only for the purposes contained in section 115.062. 
  5.25     (d) The public local utility described in subdivision 1 
  5.26  shall: 
  5.27     (1) collect the fees assessed on its sewer service 
  5.28  connections; 
  5.29     (2) pay the pollution control agency an amount equivalent 
  5.30  to the fees based on the total number of service connections.  
  5.31  The service connections for each public local utility described 
  5.32  in subdivision 1 shall be verified every four years by the 
  5.33  pollution control agency; and 
  5.34     (3) pay one-fourth of the total yearly fee to the pollution 
  5.35  control agency each calendar quarter.  In lieu of quarterly 
  5.36  payments, a public local utility described in subdivision 1 with 
  6.1   fewer than 50 service connections may make a single annual 
  6.2   payment by June 30 each year.  
  6.3      (e) The public local utility shall pay a late fee in the 
  6.4   amount of five percent of the amount of the fees due from the 
  6.5   public local utility if the fees due from the public local 
  6.6   utility are not paid within 30 days of the payment dates in 
  6.7   paragraph (d), clause (3).  The late fee that the public local 
  6.8   utility shall pay shall be assessed only on the actual amount 
  6.9   collected by the public local utility through fees on service 
  6.10  connections.  
  6.11     Sec. 4.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  6.12     $10,000,000 is appropriated in fiscal years 2004 and 2005 
  6.13  from the water quality testing account in the environmental fund 
  6.14  under Minnesota Statutes, section 116.07, subdivision 41, to the 
  6.15  commissioner of the pollution control agency for water testing 
  6.16  compliance under Minnesota Statutes, section 115.062.