Mississippi § 49-17-14 - Title V air operating permit program; program fee trust fund; expenditures for authorized purposes.

§ 49-17-14. Title V air operating permit program; program fee trust fund; expenditures for authorized purposes.

“Title V program” means, as used in Sections 49-17-1 through 49-17-45, the air operating permit program mandated in Title V of the 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act, codified in 42 U.S.C.S. Section 7661, et seq. There is created in the State Treasury a fund to be designated as the “Air Operating Permit Program Fee Trust Fund,” referred to hereinafter as the “fund.” The fund shall be treated as a special trust fund. Interest earned on the principal therein shall be credited by the Treasurer to the fund. The fund may receive monies from any available public or private source including, but not limited to, collection of fees, interest, grants, taxes, public and private donations and judicial actions. To facilitate the proper administration of the fund, the commission is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of the fund. The commission shall expend or utilize monies in the fund by an annual appropriation approved by the Legislature to pay all reasonable direct and indirect costs associated with the development and administration of the Title V program including, but not limited to, the reasonable costs of the following activities as they relate to the Title V program: Preparing generally applicable regulations or guidance regarding the permit program or its implementation or enforcement; Reviewing and acting on any application for a permit, permit modification or permit renewal, including the development of an applicable requirement as part of the processing of a permit, or permit modification or renewal; Administering the permit program, including the supporting and tracking of permit applications, compliance certification, and related data entry; Implementing and enforcing the terms of any Title V permit (not including any court costs or other costs associated with an enforcement action), including adequate resources to determine which sources are subject to the program; Emissions and ambient monitoring; Modeling, analyses, or demonstrations; Preparing inventories and tracking emissions; Providing direct and indirect support to sources under the Small Business Stationary Source Technical and Environmental Compliance Assistance Program under Section 507 of the federal Clean Air Act in determining and meeting their obligations under this section; and Providing funding to the Advisory Council created in Section 49-17-16 in an amount reasonably sufficient to meet the Advisory Council’s obligations under Sections 49-17-1 through 49-17-45. Monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall be retained in the fund for use in the next succeeding fiscal year. If the annual fees collected exceed the cost of administering the Title V program for that fiscal year, then the excess shall be applied to the cost of administering the program for the succeeding fiscal year. In the succeeding fiscal year, the total to be collected from fees shall be reduced by the excess retained in the fund and the assessment rates shall be adjusted proportionately. No such fees shall be utilized by the Department of Environmental Quality or any other person for any purpose or purposes other than those purposes required by Sections 49-17-1 through 49-17-45.