2023 Oregon Revised Statutes › Volume : 15 - Water Resources, Agriculture and Food › Chapter 543 - Hydroelectric Projects › Section 543.080 - Project specific fees; summary of project specific expenditures.

(1) In addition to the annual fee set forth in ORS 543.078, a holder may be required to pay project specific fees.
(2) Project specific fees are fees that compensate a state agency for the agency’s reasonable and necessary oversight of a holder’s implementation of the protection, mitigation and enhancement measures included in a water right for the project, a certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045 or a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license.
(3) Project specific fees shall be considered at the time of reauthorization or relicensing of a hydroelectric project and, if needed, shall be established before the proposed final order is issued under ORS 543A.115, and shall be included in the reauthorized water right or the certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045. In the case of power claims and uncertificated claims, project specific fees shall be considered at the time of relicensing and, if needed, shall be included in an order of the Water Resources Director amending the claim pursuant to ORS 543.092 or in a certificate issued for the project pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045.
(4) The need for, and amount of, a project specific fee shall be based upon the following factors:
(a) Experimental or unproven nature of the proposed mitigation;
(b) Significance of the resource affected;
(c) Need for ongoing agency involvement in reviewing the effectiveness of the proposed measure;
(d) Need for agency personnel to perform field work or research efforts; and
(e) Overall nature of the protection, mitigation or enhancement measures, including but not limited to consideration of whether the measure is simple, complex, closed-ended or adaptive and whether the measure is determined solely by the holder or by an agency or public committee.
(5) A project specific fee may not be assessed for:
(a) Work on projects other than the project for which the fee is established;
(b) Work that is paid for by the annual hydroelectric fee;
(c) Development of statewide hydroelectric policy;
(d) Coordination of statewide activities within an agency;
(e) Costs to the agency of Attorney General assistance associated with ongoing litigation; or
(f) Routine monitoring of compliance with nonadaptive management provisions of the water right, an uncertificated claim, a certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045 or a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license.
(6) A project specific fee shall be time-limited. One year before expiration of a project specific fee, the holder and any affected agency shall review the need, if any, to modify, extend or terminate the project specific fee. After such review, the agency shall propose a fee modification, extension or termination. Any dispute regarding the proposed fee action shall be referred to an independent fact finder selected by mutual agreement, whose costs shall be borne one-half by the holder and one-half by the agency. The fact finder shall review whether the proposed fee action is appropriate under and consistent with the criteria set forth in subsections (2), (4) and (5) of this section. The fact finder shall not review the substance of the protection, mitigation and enhancement measures contained in the water right, the uncertificated claim, the certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045 or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license. The fact finder shall forward its determination in writing to the holder and agency. Upon receipt and consideration of the fact finder’s determination, the agency shall notify the holder whether the project specific fee is modified, extended or terminated. If the holder is dissatisfied with the fee action, the holder may request administrative or judicial review in accordance with statutes or rules applicable to a particular agency’s fee action. The written determination of the fact finder shall be admissible in any such administrative or judicial hearing. Notwithstanding any other law, a presumption shall exist in favor of the determination of the fact finder and the burden shall be on the party seeking a fee action contrary to the determination of the fact finder to demonstrate that a different fee action is justified under this section.
(7) Subject to subsections (2) to (5) of this section, the amount of a project specific fee shall be established based on an estimate of the cost to the agency of the labor, supplies and overhead expended by the agency in providing reasonable and necessary oversight of a holder’s implementation of the protection, mitigation and enhancement measures included in the water right, the uncertificated claim, the certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045 or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license. The estimate used to derive a project specific fee amount shall be determined by using increments of not more than 0.25 full-time equivalents.
(8) A project specific fee shall be payable after issuance of the final order pursuant to ORS 543A.130, or in the case of power claimants and uncertificated claimants, after the issuance of either the director’s order or a certificate issued for the project pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045. A project specific fee shall be paid in increments that are reasonably related to the work to be performed and set forth in the final order, certificate issued pursuant to ORS 468B.040 or 468B.045 or the director’s order.
(9) Each agency receiving project specific fees shall, on a biennial basis, provide the holder paying the fees with a summary of project specific expenditures. [1999 c.873 §6]