ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER|
Many of Virginia's biggest polluters pay nothing for the right to dump chemicals and industrial waste into the state's streams and rivers, a public interest group said Thursday.
Clean Water Action said the state should require polluters to pay fees that, at the very least, cover the administrative costs of issuing discharge permits.
"They have been getting a free ride for a long time," said Marie Kulick, the group's Virginia coordinator and author of the report "License to Pollute."
The report comes at a time when a General Assembly watchdog agency is reviewing the fee structure for pollution permits. Last year, water fees covered only 18 percent of the state's $6.5 million permit program, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Four years ago, the General Assembly imposed a fee - $8,000 for large polluters - for each water discharge permit, which generally lasts for five years. But many companies avoided paying anything so far - $8,000 for large polluters - by applying for permits before the fees went into effect.
The Clean Water Action report said about half of the state's 20 largest polluters paid no fees last year.
"The fee system is not fair," said Kulick, who noted that taxpayers end up subsidizing industrial polluters.
DEQ officials took no position on the Clean Water Action report, other than to question some of the group's statistics.
March Bell, deputy DEQ director, said the Allen administration will consider permit fees as part of its comprehensive review of state regulations.
Asked if the fees should remain low to attract business, Bell said, "It's really too early to tell."
Carolyn Wampler, lobbyist for the Virginia Manufacturers Association, said the fees were established in part by considering what neighboring states charge.
"I think the permittees want to pay what is fair and what is consistent with what permittees are paying in other states."
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