CARB Fee Collection For VOC Consumer Products Targeted For Year End
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Regulations permitting the California Air Resources Board to collect fees for certain volatile organic compound-containing consumer products are likely to become effective in October, according to CARB
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Regulations permitting the California Air Resources Board to collect fees for certain volatile organic compound-containing consumer products are likely to become effective in October, according to CARB. Implementation Section Manager Judy Yee explained the timeline for implementing the consumer products fee regulation in a conference call April 28, marking the first meeting of the Consumer Products Fee Regulation Workgroup. The meeting was followed by a public workshop in Sacramento, Calif. May 1. The group plans to present a regulation proposal to the air resources board for adoption in July, Yee said. A 1 draft regulation was made available to the public April 30. Comments on the regulation are due by May 14. Under the proposal, CARB will send out fee assessment reports to manufacturers within 30 days of the effective date. Companies will then have 60 days to submit payment, "so in terms of the timing, you probably would see the fees due by the end of the year," Yee said. By timing the regulation with the start of CARB's fiscal year July 1, the process for collecting fees will be "less formal" this year than in subsequent fiscal years, Yee said. CARB "will be available to work with companies on a case-by-case basis to resolve any questions you may have regarding our emissions estimates for your company," Yee said. Negotiations will be conducted up until the regulation becomes effective, she explained. In upcoming fiscal years, the draft regulation calls for a more formal process where CARB would send out preliminary fee assessments to manufacturers May 1. Companies would have 30 days to comment before CARB sends out final assessments, the regulation states. After final assessments are determined and sent to manufacturers, companies would then have 60 days to transmit the fees to CARB. They would likely be due around September, according to Yee. Late fees would apply if payment was not received within the allotted timeframe, the draft proposal says. CARB currently is working to develop "a single, uniform fee rate" for all three sectors - consumer products, facilities and architectural coatings - that will be impacted by the regulation, Yee said. A company or facility would be assessed fees based on that fee rate multiplied by their annual tons of VOC emissions. The rate will take into account the number of facilities and companies with VOC emissions of 250 tons per year or more. CARB is implementing the fee regulation to make up for a $10 mil. reduction in the state's general fund. Gov. Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 10X March 18, reducing CARB's funding but allowing the agency to recover the loss by collecting fees from air pollution sources (2 (Also see "CARB Fee Regulation To Be Addressed In Public Hearing" - HBW Insight, 14 Apr, 2003.), p. 4). CARB has yet to determine an exact fee rate because there are some reports that California's Office of the Legislative Analyst will recommend CARB collect $17.4 mil. in fees rather than the planned $13 mil., Yee said. In a preliminary assessment, the fee rate would be $60 per ton if the final fee collection target is $13 mil. or the rate could increase to $85 per ton if the final target is $17.4 mil., she said. CARB is relying on its 1997 Consumer & Commercial Products Survey data to develop fee assessments (see 3 ). Under the current program, CARB has the authority to collect fees up to $3 mil. on facilities that emit 500 tons per year or more of active organic gases. AB 10X lowers the threshold to 250 tons per year and opens fee collection to consumer products and architectural coatings. In a preliminary list released by CARB, 57 consumer product firms are cited as having emissions over 250 tons per year. Another 43 with emissions over 100 tons per year also are included to account for potential growth, mergers or acquisitions as the data used to develop the list is four years old, the agency said. The combined total of the 57 companies that emit 250 tons of emissions a year is 58,905. Listed among the top 20 manufacturers are S.C. Johnson & Son, Unilever Home & Personal Care, Reckitt Benckiser, Perrigo, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Procter & Gamble, Gillette and Shiseido. |