(A)(1) Except as provided in division (A)(3) or (4) of this section, the owner or operator of a facility required to annually file an emergency and hazardous chemical inventory form under section 3750.08 of the Revised Code shall submit with the inventory form a filing fee of one hundred fifty dollars. In addition to the filing fee, the owner or operator shall submit with the inventory form the following additional fees for reporting inventories of the individual hazardous chemicals and extremely hazardous substances produced, used, or stored at the facility:

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(a) Except as provided in division (A)(1)(b) of this section, an additional fee of twenty dollars per hazardous chemical enumerated on the inventory form;

(b) An additional fee of one hundred fifty dollars per extremely hazardous substance enumerated on the inventory form. The fee established in division (A)(1)(a) of this section does not apply to the reporting of the inventory of a hazardous chemical that is also an extremely hazardous substance to which the inventory reporting fee established in division (A)(1)(b) of this section applies.

The total fees required to accompany any inventory form shall not exceed twenty-five hundred dollars.

(2) An owner or operator of a facility who fails to submit such an inventory form within thirty days after the applicable filing date prescribed in section 3750.08 of the Revised Code shall submit with the inventory form a late filing fee in the amount of ten per cent per year of the total fees due under division (A)(1) or (4) of this section, in addition to the fees due under division (A)(1) or (4) of this section.

(3) The owner or operator of a facility who, during the preceding year, was required to pay a fee to a municipal corporation pursuant to an ordinance, rule, or requirement that was in effect on the effective date of this section for the reporting or providing of the names or amounts of extremely hazardous substances or hazardous chemicals produced, used, or stored at the facility may claim a credit against the fees due under division (A)(1) or (4) of this section for the fees paid to the municipal corporation pursuant to its reporting requirement. The amount of the credit claimed in any reporting year shall not exceed the amount of the fees due under division (A)(1) or (4) of this section during that reporting year, and no unused portion of the credit shall be carried over to subsequent years. In order to claim a credit under this division, the owner or operator shall submit with the emergency and hazardous chemical inventory form a receipt issued by the municipal corporation or other documentation acceptable to the commission indicating the amount of the fee paid to the municipal corporation and the date on which the fee was paid.

(4) An owner or operator who is regulated under Chapter 1509 of the Revised Code and who submits information under section 1509.231 of the Revised Code for not more than twenty-five facilities shall submit to the emergency response commission on or before the first day of March a flat fee of fifty dollars if the facilities meet all of the following conditions:

(a) The facility exclusively stores crude oil or liquid hydrocarbons or other fluids resulting, obtained, or produced in connection with the production or storage of crude oil or natural gas.

(b) The crude oil, liquid hydrocarbons, or other fluids stored at the facility are conveyed directly to it through piping or tubing.

(c) The facility is located on the same site as, or on a site adjacent to, the well from which the crude oil, liquid hydrocarbons, or other fluids are produced or obtained.

(d) The facility is used for the storage of the crude oil, liquid hydrocarbons, or other fluids prior to their transportation off the premises of the facility for sale, use, or disposal.

An owner or operator who submits information for more than twenty-five facilities that meet all of the conditions prescribed in divisions (A)(4)(a) to (d) of this section shall submit to the commission a base fee of fifty dollars and an additional filing fee of ten dollars for each facility reported in excess of twenty-five, but not exceeding a total fee of nine hundred dollars.

As used in division (A)(4) of this section, “owner or operator” means the person who actually owns or operates any such facility and any other person who controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the person who actually owns or operates the facility.

(B) The emergency response commission and the local emergency planning committee of an emergency planning district may establish fees to be paid by persons, other than public officers or employees, obtaining copies of documents or information submitted to the commission or a committee under this chapter. The fees shall be established at a level calculated to defray the costs to the commission or committee for copying the documents or information, but shall not exceed the maximum fees established in rules adopted under division (B)(8) of section 3750.02 of the Revised Code.

(C) Except as provided in this division and division (B) of this section, and except for fees authorized by section 3737.22 of the Revised Code or rules adopted under sections 3737.82 to 3737.882 of the Revised Code and collected exclusively for either of those purposes, no committee or political subdivision shall levy any fee, tax, excise, or other charge to carry out the purposes of this chapter. A committee may charge the actual costs involved in accessing any computerized data base established by the commission under this chapter or by the United States environmental protection agency under the “Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986,” 100 Stat. 1729, 42 U.S.C.A. 11001.

(D) Moneys collected by the commission under this section shall be credited to the emergency planning and community right-to-know fund created in section 3750.14 of the Revised Code.