NPCA pursues relief through litigation regarding 2005-2006 California emissions fees
NPCA pursues relief through litigation regarding 2005-2006 California emissions fees
Keywords: Environmental health and safety
In July, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) revealed that its emissions fee for the 2005-2006 fiscal year will be $105.25 per ton of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. This is a significant increase over last year's fee ($94.03) and the year before ($86.55), as NPCA expected. Upon receipt, companies have 60 days to confirm their emissions estimate. If you have any questions about the VOC emissions estimate on your company's preliminary determination, you should contact CARB immediately. The primary contact for this discussion is Judy Yee, and she can be contacted at: jyee@arb.ca.govor916/322.9148.
In April 22 hearing in California's Superior Court in Sacramento, Judge Raymond M. Cadei denied NPCA's motion for a preliminary injunction in NPCA vs CARB, thereby permitting the CARB to collect the VOC emissions fees from NPCA members under the state's AB10X Emissions Fee Program.
The fees, which range from $14,000 to 750,000, are assessed against manufacturers of architectural coatings and consumer products whose emissions are 250 tons or more per year and are assessed on an annual basis. At NPCA's urging, CARB had voluntarily agreed not to collect these fees from NPCA members until the April hearing.
NPCA still plans to expedite the final adjudication of the case at the trial court level, working diligently to bring this case to a favorable resolution. At the trial level, NPCA will remain steadfast in its argument that the VOC emissions “fee” is really a masked tax. Certain criteria must be met in order for the state to levy regulatory fees, and NPCA maintains that these“fees” eschew these criteria by a wide margin. NPCA is also arguing that, even if the VOC emissions fee program is considered to be a “regulatory fee,” it fails to meet the requirement that there be a close relationship between the fees imposed on the regulatory community and the agency programs that mitigate or reduce air pollution in the state created by these products, or nexus. For more information, NPCA members can contact Heidi McAuliffe at: hmcauliffe@paint.org
