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State board adopts fee resolutions; staff to suspend some FERC prelicensing fees and correct water-certification cap
Summary
The State Water Resources Control Board unanimously adopted updates to water-quality and water-rights fee regulations on Sept. 16, correcting a water-certification fee cap and approving a temporary suspension of certain FERC prelicensing fees tied to the San Vicente Energy Storage Project.
The State Water Resources Control Board on Sept. 16 unanimously adopted fee regulations for water quality and water rights after staff said higher-than-normal fund reserves allowed the agency to avoid broad fee increases this year.
Staff from the Division of Administrative Services, led by Deputy Director John Russell and David Ciccarelli, the revenue and fee branch chief, said the department hosted three stakeholder meetings aligned with the governor’s budget cycle and that the proposed changes are limited to clarifying language and a small correction to one fee cap.
For the water-quality certification schedule, staff corrected a computation error. The maximum fee for certain construction and linear projects will be $11,311 — up from $11,223 under the older calculation — by aligning the cap with a maximum disturbed area of 200 acres. Staff said the $88 adjustment affects roughly 134 larger projects that fall at or above the cap.
On water-rights fees, the board approved language clarifying how fees apply to requests submitted prior to permit issuance, updated references (for example, Board of Equalization references were changed to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration), and increased the cap on water-rights change petitions tied to transfers to reflect a Consumer Price Index adjustment. Staff said the cap rose from $674,481 to $695,652 (a 3.05% CPI increase), and that no current projects have reached the cap.
The board also approved a temporary, narrowly targeted suspension of annual fees for certain Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydropower prelicensing projects that have filed a notice of intent (NOI) but have not submitted a draft or final license application within five years. Staff said the change responds to a San Vicente Energy Storage Project development timeline; the suspension would apply only while the project remains in the prelicensing stage and would be reactivated if a license application is filed.
Stakeholders including the San Diego County Water Authority (represented by Nina Kuzmic and Dan Denham), the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (Spencer Sachs), WaterUSE California (Rosalia Cortez), and a coalition of cities and water districts (Bob Gore) thanked staff for outreach and supported the approach of using reserves to hold fees steady this year.
Board action: Board member motion to adopt the water quality fee resolution was seconded and the roll-call vote was unanimous: Nicole Morgan (Aye), Laurel Firestone (Aye), Sean Maguire (Aye), Vice Chair Doreen D'Adamo (Aye) and Chair Joaquin Esquivel (Aye). A subsequent motion to adopt the water-rights fee changes also passed unanimously on roll call.
Ending: Board members said they will continue stakeholder dialogue over the fall and noted that next year’s fee adoption may reflect fully implemented budget reductions and occupancy of vacancies that have affected fund reserves.
