DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission/Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division

6 CCR 1007-3

hazardous waste

Amendments to Hazardous Waste Fees - Extension of Temporary Fee Decrease for Calendar Year 2013

(Adopted by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission on November 20, 2012)

1) Revise Section 262.13 of Part 262 to read as follows:

§ 262.13 Generator Annual Fees.

(a) Pursuant to the fee requirements of section 25-15-302, C.R.S., generators of hazardous waste shall be assessed the following annual fees for each calendar year:

1) Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators (CESQGs) that generate 3 gallons or more in a calendar year of hazardous waste codes F001, F002, F004, and/or F005: $200 ($140 for Calendar Year (CY) 2013)

2) Small quantity generators (SQGs): $625* ($440 for CY 2013) 

3) Large quantity generators (LQGs): $3,200** ($2240 for CY 2013)

*Note: CESQGs that operate at the SQG status for four or more calendar months of the year will be assessed the SQG fee level.

**Note: SQGs that operate at the LQG status for less than four (4) months in the same calendar year will be assessed the SQG fee level upon notification to the Department.

2) Revise the Annual Fees Schedule in § 100.31 to read as follows: 

ANNUAL FEES SCHEDULE

Type of facility/regulated unit	Operating Fee	
Class I

  Landfills
     Commercial

 

     Non-commercial

  

Units closing as landfills
     Commercial
     Non-commercial

  Underground injection wells

  

Disposal CAMUs	

$9.92/ton ($6.94/ton in Calendar Year (CY) 2013) of hazardous waste disposed, 

$5.25/ton ($3.68/ton in CY 2013) of non-hazardous waste disposed, min. of $56,700 ($39,690 in CY 2013)

$9.92/ton ($6.94/ton in CY 2013) of hazardous waste disposed, 

$5.25/ton ($3.68/ton in CY 2013) of non-hazardous waste disposed, min. of $17,010 ($11,907 in CY 2013)

$42,525 ($29,768 in CY 2013)
$17,010 ($11,907 in CY 2013)

$9.92/ton ($6.94/ton in CY 2013) of hazardous waste disposed, 
$5.25/ton ($3.68/ton in CY 2013) of non-hazardous waste disposed, min. of $14,175 ($9,923 in CY 2013)

$9.92/ton ($6.94/ton in CY 2013) of hazardous waste disposed, 
$5.25/ton ($3.68/ton in CY 2013) of non-hazardous waste disposed, min. of $7,088 ($4,962 in CY 2013)	
Class II

  Surface impoundments
     Commercial

     Non-commercial

 

Waste piles

  Land Treatment

Incinerators/Boilers and
  Industrial Furnaces
    Off-site (commercial) facilities

    
   On-site facilities

  Research, Pilot or RD & D facilities

Treatment/Storage CAMUs	

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $17,010 ($11,907 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $12,474 ($8,732 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $12,474 ($8,732 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste treated, min. of $12,474 ($8,732 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste processed, min. of $22,680 ($15,876 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste processed, min. of $11,340 ($7,938 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste processed, min. of $2,835 ($1,985 in CY 2013)

 $3.55 /ton ($2.50/ton in CY 2013) of waste treated or stored, min. of $1,418 ($995 in CY 2013)	
Class III

  Tank storage
  (except resource recovery)

  Container storage
  (except resource recovery)

  Containment Buildings

Treatment processes, all except those done in     Class II units

  Tank storage (resource recovery)

  Container storage (resource recovery) 	

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $1,871 ($1,310 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $1,871 ($1,310 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $1,871 ($1,310 in CY 2013)

$7.09/ton ($4.96/ton in CY 2013) of waste treated, min. of $1,871 ($1,310 in CY 2013)

$4.12/ton ($2.88/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $936 ($655 in CY 2013)

$4.12/ton ($2.88/ton in CY 2013) of waste stored, min. of $936 ($655 in CY 2013)	
Class IV

  All except injection wells	

$3.27/ton ($2.30/ton in CY 2013) of waste treated or stored, min. of $210 ($147 in CY 2013)	
Post-Closure Fee

  All units (including CAMUs)	

$5,250 per unit ($3,675 per unit in CY 2013)	
Use restrictions for corrective action decisions	$1,000 ($700 in CY 2013) per each five geographically distinct areas subject to environmental use restrictions, or fraction thereof.(1) 	

(1)  For purposes of this calculation, each Solid Waste Management Unit or otherwise regulated unit shall be considered a geographically distinct unit.  In addition, groundwater shall be treated as geographically distinct from associated soil contamination.

3) Revise paragraph (b) of § 100.32 to read as follows: 

§ 100.32 DOCUMENT REVIEW AND ACTIVITY FEES

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(b) Schedule.  Hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities that are subject to the review and activity fees under paragraph (a) of this section shall pay an hourly charge of $150 ($105 in Calendar Year 2013) for departmental staff and administrative time.  The Director shall establish a time keeping system and shall make available to the owner/operator of the facility a record of those activities for which the owner/operator has been charged.

The document review and activity fee of each type of regulated unit shall not exceed the ceilings noted in the schedule below and in paragraph (c) of this section.  For facilities with more than one regulated unit, the maximum document review and activity fee is the sum of the ceiling fees for each unit at the facility.

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4) Revise Section 100.33 to read as follows: 

§ 100.33 HAZARDOUS WASTE NOTIFICATION FEES

(a) Applicability.  Facilities subject to regulation under Parts 99 and 261.5 or 262 of these regulations are subject to the following fees:

(1) A facility modifying their notification to any status requiring a lesser hazardous waste generation rate (e.g., a Large Quantity Generator re-notifying as a Small Quantity Generator, Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator, or non-generator) shall pay $120 ($84 in Calendar Year (CY) 2013) along with submittal of their revised notification information.  The Department will not process the notification change without payment of the $120 ($84 in CY 2013) fee.
 
(2) A facility submitting a new notification under Part 99 shall pay $120 ($84 in CY 2013), except that newly notifying Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators shall not be subject to this fee.  The Department will not process the notification without payment of the $120 ($84 in CY 2013) fee.

All notification updates that are providing or changing information required in the notification will not be assessed any fee unless these updates also meet criteria (1) or (2) above.

5) Add Section 8.80 {Statement of Basis and Purpose for the Rulemaking Hearing of November 20, 2012} to Part 8 of the Regulations to read as follows:

Statement of Basis and Purpose
Rulemaking Hearing of November 20, 2012

8.80		Basis and Purpose.

These amendments to 6 CCR 1007-3, Part 262 and Part 100 are made pursuant to the authority granted to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission in §§ 25-15-302(2) and (3.5), C.R.S.

Amendments to Hazardous Waste Fees

The Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission put the current fees in place in 2009.  After two years under that hazardous waste fee structure, the Department determined that a one-year temporary decrease of 12% in hazardous waste fees was necessary for Calendar Year 2011.  After further review, the Department determined that an additional one-year temporary decrease of 30% in hazardous waste fees was necessary for Calendar Year 2012.  At that time, the Department suspected that the 30% fee reduction could possibly be extended into Calendar Year 2013 and maybe even further.  However, due to an uncertain economy and the resulting difficult revenue and cost projections, the 30% fee reduction was only included in the regulations for Calendar Year 2012.  After additional analysis, the budget for the Hazardous Waste Program remains healthy and our projections have been accurate, so this rulemaking extends the fee reduction for another year, Calendar Year 2013.

§ 25-15-301.5, C.R.S., provides general directives for implementation of the hazardous waste regulatory program.  These directives include implementing a hazardous waste program that a) maintains program authorization by the U.S. EPA, b) promotes a community ethic to reduce or eliminate waste problems, c) is credible and accountable to industry and the public, d) is innovative and cost-effective, and e) protects the environmental quality of life for impacted residents of the state.  § 25-15-302(2), C.R.S., provides guidance for future fee adjustments by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission.  This guidance includes setting the fees such that the revenue generated by each fee approximates the actual reasonable program costs attributable to the facilities paying the fee.

The Department is authorized by the U.S. EPA to operate the hazardous waste regulatory program in Colorado in lieu of the federal government.  One of the key criteria evaluated by the U.S. EPA in authorizing the state program is resources, both in terms of funding and in terms of qualified personnel.  
Even with this fee decrease, the Department has determined that it will continue to be able to operate an adequate program.

Amendments to these same sections of the regulations made in May, 2009, effective July 1, 2009, implemented a balanced 15% increase in hazardous waste program fees that the Department expected would provide adequate funding for the hazardous waste program for a period of approximately two years.  However, because of several unanticipated events, the current fee structure has collected too much money.  The Department has benefitted from higher-than-anticipated revenue, particularly in 2011, and lower-than-expected costs.  Revenues have been higher due to 1) greater-than-expected volumes processed by Colorado’s permitted Treatment, Storage, and Disposal (TSD) facilities, 2) collecting a sizable hazardous waste volume fee for a new waste stream at another TSD, and 3) other fee components (number of billable hours and number of hazardous waste generators) remaining stronger than anticipated.

The Hazardous Waste Program has had lower expenses because 1) salaries did not increase in FY10, FY11, or FY12, and will not increase in FY13, 2) salaries were actually cut 2.5% in FY11 and FY12 by legislative action diverting more salary to PERA (the retirement program for state employees) and decreasing the amount paid by the state the same amount, 3) the Hazardous Waste Program has not spent the budgeted $200,000 that we built into the 2009 fee increase for building a new data management system, 4) the Hazardous Waste Program did not have to pay attorney costs out of the cash account in FY11 or FY12, and 5) the Hazardous Waste Program lost ~4 FTE in FY11 due to some minor reorganization and movement of time and effort over to the Solid Waste Program.

Higher revenues and lower expenses caused overall revenue to outpace expenses in both FY10 and FY11.  In FY12, revenue and expenses were approximately equal.  This has caused the Program’s bank account to grow to a level that significantly exceeds what is allowed by law.  § 24-75-402, C.R.S., requires that the fiscal-year end balance in this type of bank account not exceed 16.5% of the previous year’s expenditures.  Because of the unanticipated events described above, projections show that the 16.5% carry-over limit will be exceeded until beyond FY15 unless the fees are decreased.  With a fee decrease the bank account balance will again reach the 16.5% limit in FY15.

This fee decrease rulemaking will become effective on January 1, 2013.  

The amendments being adopted at this time include a second one-year temporary fee decrease of 30% for all fee components.  The 2009 fee increase was calculated carefully to collect proportional amounts of revenue from each hazardous waste sector equivalent to the amount of time and effort the Department spent regulating that sector.  That proportion between sectors is still correct and, therefore, the fairest and simplest approach to the fee decrease is an across-the-board equal fee reduction of 30%.  This means that the fees included in Parts 262.13 (Generator fees), 100.31 (TSD annual, volume, and minimum fees), 100.32 (document review and activity fees), and 100.33 (notification fees) have all been reduced by 30% for calendar year 2013.

The maximum and ceilings for non-commercial TSDs in Part 100.31(b) and for document review in Parts 100.32(b) and (c) have not been adjusted.  These ceilings were not raised in 2009 when the last fee increase (15%) was implemented so there is no reason to lower them now for this fee decrease.  In truth, these ceilings are only very rarely reached even under the 2009 fee amounts.