The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission voted to move ahead with proposed rules to establish air pollutant emission fees to cover the state’s cost of issuing construction and operating permits. The Department of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau is funded with fees based on the amount of pollution generated. Officials say as emissions have gone down, so have the fees. The commission met via conference call and heard from one person who had concerns about the proposed fees. Mick Durham represented Grain Processors Corporation of Muscatine…….
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He says the rules ask for a 25 percent increase in what are called the Title Five fees for air quality and establishes another fee to renew permits.
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The chief of the Air Quality Bureau, Catharine Fitzsimmons, says the estimates were put together through the stakeholder groups……
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Fitzsimmons says the time it takes to review and approve a permit depends on the number of potential source points for the pollution.
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The Environmental Protection Commission approved moving ahead with the proposal and will take a final vote at its December meeting, with the hope the rules will go into place in January.