Georgia’s Air Permit Fees are Increasing
Posted: June 3rd, 2020
Authors: Madison J.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) needs to increase permit fees to keep up with business growth in the state. A few things have happened to cause the need for this increase. In 2017, GEPD lost $2.2 million in fees when coal-fired power plants in Georgia closed. In 2019, two more coal-fired power plants closed and will cause a loss of $657,937 in the fiscal year 2021. While emissions have decreased and GEPD has cut their staff in half, workload has not decreased. GEPD did build reserves in 2015-2017 to delay these needed permit fee increases, but the time has come.
On March 1, 2019, permit application fees were updated to the following:
- Generic (Minor Synthetic Minor) Permit Fee: $0
- Title V Initial and Renewal Fee: $0
- Off-Permit Change Request Fee: $0
- No Permit Required Exemption Fee: $0
- Minor Source Permit of Amendment Fee: $250
- Name / Ownership Change Fee: $250
- Permit-by-rule Fee: $250
- Synthetic Minor Source Permit or Amendment Fee: $1,000
- Title V Modifications and 502(b)(10) Permit Amendment Fees: $2,000
- Major Source Permit not Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) or 112(g) Fee: $2,000
- PSD Permit Fee: $7,500
- 112(g) Permit Fee: $7,500
- Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR) Permit Fee: $7,500
In addition to those updates, GEPD wants to make the following changes to be implemented in July 2021:
- Raise the annual synthetic minor permit fee to $2,100/year (previously $1,700/year)
- Raise the annual New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) fee to $1,900/year (previously $1,500/year)
- Increase expedited permit fees by 25%
- Add an annual maintenance fee for all Title V sources of $650/year
The proposed changes move towards a more equitable distribution of fees between types of work. The goal of these changes is to increase future stability of funding for delegated permitting programs. The second set of changes to be implemented in July 2021 are in the review process.
Here is GEPD’s timeline:
- February 2020: brief board on FY2021 fee revisions (Complete)
- March/April 2020: public comment period and public hearing (Complete)
- May 2020: request board adoption for FY2021 fee revisions (In progress, confirmation expected in June)
- July 1, 2020 (first day of FY 2021): new fees become effective
- September 1, 2020: annual fee payments due
- March 1, 2021: proposed changes in expedited fees and permit application fees become effective
GEPD has more information on their website below, including their presentation from their January Stakeholders Meeting.
If you’d like to learn more about air permitting and associated fees in Georgia, please reach out to me at mjones@all4inc.com or 678-460-0324 x215.
