News Release 409

HOW MUCH IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERMIT WORTH?

Volume 34-409

Contact: Connie Patterson

(For immediate release)

573-751-1010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, SEPT. 26, 2006 -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources recently set out to determine just exactly how much an environmental permit is worth. While the agency can't answer that question in dollars and cents, it does know its permits are a very small cost in comparison to the economic benefit provided. And, the permits are an absolute bargain compared with the remedial work and health care that might be needed without these pollution prevention tools.

"Most Missouri residents have no idea what a permit from the Department of Natural Resources accomplishes," said Department Director Doyle Childers. "Many people think permits are government busy work, fundraising for bureaucrats or just plain harassment of communities or businesses."

Actually, permits are a necessary part of the environmental control business because they help assure environmental protection and compliance. In Missouri, a permit is required for most types of activity that can have an impact on the environment or the health of the state's citizens. These permits help ensure that environmental standards are met so Missourians can continue to enjoy healthy air, safe drinking water, clean streams and usable soil.

Permits range from simple "over-the-counter" stormwater permits that may take only 15 minutes to complete to complex industrial permits that may take years to finalize. Some permits are good for a short duration, while others may be good for 10 years or the lifetime of a particular facility. Some permits cost several hundred dollars; others may cost several thousand, depending on the type of permit and the complexity of review.

In addition to allowing a company to operate safely and legally, a permit can protect a facility from being sued if it is following the conditions in its permit. Each permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources is a legal document. In applying for and accepting a permit, a facility agrees to abide by its terms and conditions. State and federal environmental laws provide severe penalties for violating the requirements of the law or permit conditions, and for failing to obtain a permit when one is required.

"A permit provides an assurance that either the regulated world won't change over the course of the permit's life, or it will do so only to the extent anticipated or allowed in the permit," Department Director Doyle Childers said. "What a company or community gets for the cost of the permit is valuable to the facility, the community and our environment."

For example, while it may take several years to obtain a permit for a landfill, the permit is good for the life of the landfill. Because a permit adds considerable value to the property, a permit for a landfill can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars even if the landfill has never been built.

Another example is a permit for an expanded wastewater or drinking water plant. In addition to creating a setting that welcomes economic development by providing water and sewer services at the ready, a community can realize additional environmental benefits from the improved plant, which solves old problems and sets the stage for showcasing the community's high environmental quality. Citizens are better served, and the community becomes a more attractive place to live and work.

Land disturbance permits protect the location and its neighbors from the effects of erosion and runoff. General permits or permits by rule provide a predictable and transparent guide for projects to travel to completion.

While there are great values to permit holders in terms of being able to do business, the best value from permitting is the astronomical public health benefit of protecting our water, air and land resources, said Childers.

The department also oversees a number of licenses, registrations and certifications, including wastewater operators, well drillers, asbestos removal and backflow prevention in drinking water. Citizens and communities are not charged for some work done by the agency, like Section 106 reviews on historic properties and reviews on oil and gas well permits.

The Department of Natural Resources is working to bring more of its information online. Its how-to environmental permit and inspection manuals provide a guidebook to help businesses and citizens save time and money by providing information up front; the department hopes this also provides consistency in requirements across the state.

The department has also made permit, license, registration and certification forms available in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, Open Office and other word processing software. Simplifying the way the department does business enables companies to complete these forms electronically and retain them so they can easily be updated for future submissions. Customers can reuse these forms year after year www.dnr.mo.gov/forms/.

For more information on environmental permits, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/ or www.dnr.mo.gov/pubs/pub98.pdf.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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