Ohio EPA seeks fee changes, program funds in HB96; Consumers Council requests larger budget increase

Anne Vogel, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, told the House Natural Resources Committee on 2025-02-01 that Ohio EPA's biennial budget request would total $277,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and $285,000,000 for fiscal year 2027, and she outlined several fee and program changes the agency says are necessary to sustain core services.

"Our mission is to protect human health and the environment in Ohio, and we've been at it for 52 years," Vogel told the committee. She described the agency's reliance on fee revenue — "more than 70% of our budget is revenue based" — and presented proposals intended to stabilize revenues for air permitting, water and wastewater assistance, and solid-waste oversight.

Vogel asked the committee to authorize a set of air-permitting fee changes to address a reported shortfall in the Division of Air Pollution Control. Her proposals included establishing a $5,000 base fee for Title V permits (where none currently exists), a $5,000 base fee for mid-size (minor) emitters, and a 50% increase in per-ton emission fees. Vogel said those changes would raise about $4,000,000 annually; she also proposed a 50% increase to the permit-to-install fee to yield approximately $400,000 annually.

On water infrastructure, Vogel described the H2Ohio program as a proven tool for small, targeted projects and said H2Ohio funding requests for the next biennium are flat-funded. She said Ohio EPA has set aside $1,000,000 of H2Ohio money to identify and replace lead service lines at childcare facilities.

Vogel also described a proposed restructuring of solid-waste disposal fees: the executive budget would require solid-waste landfills that accept construction and demolition debris to charge the standard solid-waste fee of $4.75 per ton rather than the lower construction-and-demolition rate of $1.60 per ton. Vogel said that change could direct up to $9,000,000 a year to the state's 50 delegated local health districts and add roughly $4,000,000 for abandoned landfill and open-dump remediation.

Vogel described Ohio EPA's scrap-tire program and asked authority to expand eligibility to land banks and to allow the program to address co-located solid waste. She also described an $8,000,000 GRF request tied to the governor's Cyber Ohio initiative to create a cybersecurity grant program for community water systems.

Vogel told members the agency has been responsive to emergencies and cleanups in recent months, citing an East Cleveland cleanup where an estimated 550 tons of solid waste and 2.6 tons of scrap tires were removed, and a Clermont County cleanup where contractors removed 1,700,000 tons of material over 10 days. She also noted concerns about declining Title V fee revenue tied to utility-plant closures and said the fee changes were modeled on neighboring states' approaches.

In question-and-answer, representatives pressed Vogel on lead-service-line inventories and the scale of the problem. Representative Jerrells asked whether current funding is sufficient to be proactive on lead; Vogel responded that it is not, saying "No. Of course not," and noted that estimates to replace all lines could approach much larger sums and that workforce and material availability are also constraints. Members also asked about eCheck (vehicle emissions inspection) requirements under the federal Clean Air Act; Vogel said eCheck remains a federal requirement for the seven-county Northeast Ohio nonattainment area and that Ohio EPA is working to keep the program free to residents.

After Vogel's budget testimony, Maureen Willis of the Ohio Consumers Council testified about that agency's budget request. Willis said OCC saved consumers significant amounts in regulatory proceedings and asked the committee to increase OCC's funding beyond the amount recommended in the executive budget. "With our full requested increase, consumers' cost to fund our agency and to provide services to residential consumers will remain less than 4¢ per $100 consumer utility bill," Willis said. She asked that House Bill 96 be amended to raise OCC's FY26 operating budget to $8,280,000 and FY27 to $8,453,000 to restore purchasing power and fund expert consultants for rate cases and federal proceedings.

Willis described OCC's work before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and asked for statutory changes in HB96 to allow the agency limited subpoena authority in certain PUCO cases, intervention as a matter of right, and the ability to accept grants. She said OCC's staffing would remain the same but that additional funds would be used primarily to hire outside technical and legal consultants for complex cases.

Committee members asked detailed questions about the air-permitting fee proposals, the potential economic impact on businesses, the geography and causes of Northeast Ohio ozone nonattainment, and whether revenue uncertainty from federal sources threatens delegated programs. Vogel said Ohio EPA receives about 18% of funds from federal sources and that the agency is monitoring federal developments closely.

No committee votes were taken on HB96 during the hearing. Members directed staff and agency representatives to continue data sharing and follow-up conversations on lead inventories, Title V fee impacts, eCheck reporting proposals, and the proposed cybersecurity grant program.