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Air quality fee rule, chapter 173-455 WAC, consolidates most of the air quality related fees into one chapter. This makes it easier for the regulated community to find what fees they may need to pay.

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General regulations for air pollution sources, chapter 173-400 WAC, establishes the regulatory framework to ensure healthy air quality in Washington and that we meet federal air quality standards.

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Revise the registration program structure, including requiring all sources to register.

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Increase fees to more fully cover the costs of the air quality source registration program.

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Revise the fee process to create an equitable distribution of fees across all sources and establish a process to increase fees without going through rule making.

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Align chapters 173-400 and 173-455 WAC.

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Match hourly rate charge in WAC 173-455-050, 173-455-100(4) and 173-455-130 with the current ecology hourly billing rate (currently $95).

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The existing registration program structure does not require all sources of air pollution to register. Under this rule making we will be proposing to require all sources to register. Lack of registration hampers and complicates the program because it fails to collect fees from an estimated one hundred seventy-five sources. The administrative costs for ecology to regulate these sources are currently being covered by the remaining three hundred seventy-five sources registered in the program.

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Existing registration program fees fund approximately fifty percent of the estimated cost of operating the program. The rule making would better align fees to more fully cover program costs.

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The current fee process for the registration program does not equitably distribute fees across all registered sources. The rule making would increase fairness. Establishing a process to determine fees outside of rule making simplifies the process and allows us to recover our costs through more frequent, more predictable, and smaller fee increases.