Measure Would Reduce Potlatch Air Quality Fees Cda Democrat Says Timber Firm Paying More Than Its Share
Potlatch Corp. would pay an estimated $180,000 a year less in state air quality emission fees under a measure sailing through the Idaho Legislature.
Under a proposed concurrent resolution that already has cleared the state Senate, the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality would no longer charge a $30-per-ton air quality emission fee on carbon monoxide.
Brent Olmstead, director of natural resources for the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, said Potlatch Corp., Monsanto Co., Amalgamated Sugar and Ash Grove Cement Co. pay 68 percent of the air quality emission fees under the current 2-year-old fee structure.
Potlatch Corp. lobbyist Kevin Boling said the wood products company would see its air quality emission fees drop by $180,000 from about $440,000 a year.
The company has substantially reduced carbon monoxide emissions during the past several years, he said.
Idaho Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, said the timber industry has been paying more than its fair share of air quality emission fees.
The state would continue to charge $30 per ton to firms under the federal Clean Air Act for emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.
The measure would cost the state about $600,000 a year in air quality emission fees, industry officials estimate.
The state has collected about $2.2 million a year in fees, said Susan Richards of the state Division of Environmental Quality.
John Ledger, an assistant administrator in the division, said the agency has no objection to the proposal.
The agency wants adequate funding and fees assessed in a fair manner, he said.
The House Environmental Affairs Committee Tuesday endorsed another industry-backed concurrent resolution that exempts two lists of 154 insignificant activities from being required to be cited in air quality permit applications.
David Mabe, a lobbyist for both Potlatch Corp. and Amalgamated Sugar, said the proposal would ease the permit application process for a variety of companies and is similar to a Washington state list that has Environmental Protection Agency approval.
But Mark Solomon of Moscow, vice president of the Idaho Conservation League, said the Washington state list has been challenged in court.