EQB Approves Final Drinking Water Fee Increases, Now Moves Through Final Review

The Environmental Quality Board Tuesday approved the final regulation increasing Safe Drinking Water Program fees to address major staff deficiencies caused by a decade of General Fund budget cuts at DEP.

The Board also discussed a report about the adequacy of existing Oil and Gas Program fees.

Safe Drinking Water

The final fees will generate approximately $7.5 million annually and will account for nearly 50 percent of the program’s state funding. The fees will augment the $7.7 million in funding currently coming from the state’s General Fund.

By increasing fees, DEP hopes to hire up to 33 additional staff in the Safe Drinking Water Program to address major deficiencies in the program identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The final fees still use population served by water systems as basis for assessing the fees but will be phased in over the next year.

The final regulation also makes other changes to the Safe Drinking Water Program, including to provisions related to the lead and copper requirements for drinking water, provisions for general permits to simplify permitting and other changes.

The regulation must still be given its final review by the Senate, House and Independent Regulatory Review Commission

Oil & Gas Fees

The Board also heard a presentation on a report on the adequacy of DEP’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Program fees that demonstrates current oil and gas well fees will not generate adequate income to support the program starting in FY 2019-20, despite reductions in program staff and operating expenses.

In a permit reform proposal white paper released in January, DEP said the Oil and Gas Program is running a $600,000 per month deficit and would soon propose regulation changes to increase the well permit fee from $5,000 per well to $12,500 per well.

The Board also approved a final regulation setting emission limits on volatile organic compounds from industrial cleaning solvents and additional RACT requirements for major sources of nitrogen oxide and VOCs.

For more information and available handouts, visit the Environmental Quality Board webpage or contact Laura Edinger at 717-772-3277 or send email to: ledinger@pa.gov.