                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PERMITS (§ 10.1-1322)

A. Pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board, permits may be issued, amended,
revoked or terminated and reissued by the Department and may be enforced under
the provisions of this chapter in the same manner as regulations and orders.
Failure to comply with any condition of a permit shall be considered a violation
of this chapter and investigations and enforcement actions may be pursued in the
same manner as is done with regulations of the Board and orders of the
Department under the provisions of this chapter. To the extent allowed by
federal law, any person holding a permit who is intending to upgrade the
permitted facility by installing technology, control equipment, or other
apparatus that the permittee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Director
will result in improved energy efficiency, will reduce the emissions of
regulated air pollutants, and meets the requirements of Best Available Control
Technology shall not be required to obtain a new, modified, or amended permit.
The permit holder shall provide the demonstration anticipated by this subsection
to the Department no later than 30 days prior to commencing construction.

B. The Board by regulation may prescribe and provide for the payment and
collection of annual permit program fees for air pollution sources. Annual
permit program fees shall not be collected until (i) the federal Environmental
Protection Agency approves the Board&#8217;s operating permit program
established pursuant to Title V of the federal Clean Air Act or (ii) the
Governor determines that such fees are needed earlier to maintain primacy over
the program. The annual fees shall be based on the actual emissions (as
calculated or estimated) of each regulated pollutant, as defined in &#xA7; 502
of the federal Clean Air Act, in tons per year, not to exceed 4,000 tons per
year of each pollutant for each source. The annual permit program fees shall not
exceed a base year amount of $25 per ton using 1990 as the base year, and shall
be adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index as described in &#xA7; 502 of
the federal Clean Air Act. Permit program fees for air pollution sources who
receive state operating permits in lieu of Title V operating permits shall be
paid in the first year and thereafter shall be paid biennially. The fees shall
approximate the direct and indirect costs of administering and enforcing the
permit program, and of administering the small business stationary source
technical and environmental compliance assistance program as required by the
federal Clean Air Act. The Board shall promulgate regulations establishing
permit application fee amounts not to exceed $30,000 from applicants for a
permit for a new major stationary source. The permit application fee amount paid
shall be credited towards the amount of annual fees owed pursuant to this
section during the first two years of the source&#8217;s operation. The fees
shall be exempt from statewide indirect costs charged and collected by the
Department of Accounts.

C. When adopting regulations for permit program fees for air pollution sources,
the Board shall take into account the permit fees charged in neighboring states
and the importance of not placing existing or prospective industry in the
Commonwealth at a competitive disadvantage.

D. On or before January 1 of every even-numbered year, the Department shall make
an evaluation of the implementation of the permit fee program and provide this
evaluation in writing to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and
Natural Resources, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the House
Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and
Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Finance. This evaluation shall
include a report on the total fees collected, the amount of general funds
allocated to the Department, the Department&#8217;s use of the fees and the
general funds, the number of permit applications received, the number of permits
issued, the progress in eliminating permit backlogs, and the timeliness of
permit processing.

E. To the extent allowed by federal law and regulations, priority for
utilization of permit fees shall be given to cover the costs of processing
permit applications in order to more efficiently issue permits.

F. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall not supplant or reduce in any
way the general fund appropriation to the Department.

G. The permit fees shall apply to permit programs in existence on July 1, 1992,
any additional permit programs that may be required by the federal government
and administered by the Department, or any new permit program required by the
Code of Virginia.

H. The permit program fee regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall
not become effective until July 1, 1993.

I. [Expired.]

HISTORY: 1978, c. 818, § 10-17.30:1; 1988, c. 891; 1992, c. 488; 1993, c. 711;
1994, c. 227; 1995, c. 158; 2004, cc. 249, 324; 2005, c. 633; 2008, cc. 276,
557; 2012, c. 581; 2022, c. 356.