Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-340 - Model Toxics Control Act-Cleanup › Part 5 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES FOR REMEDIAL ACTIONS › Section 173-340-550 - Payment of remedial action costs

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1)
Policy.
RCW
				   70A.305.050(3) requires that
				the state seek to recover the amounts spent by the department for investigative
				and remedial actions and orders. It is the department's intention to recover
				those costs which are reasonably attributable to individual sites. Timing of
				cost recovery for individual sites will be considered on a case-by-case basis,
				however, the department may demand, and generally requires, payment of costs as
				they are incurred.
(2)
Costs.
Each person who is liable under chapter 70A.305 RCW is
				liable for remedial action costs incurred by the department. Remedial action
				costs are costs reasonably attributable to the site and may include costs of
				direct activities, support costs of direct activities, and interest charges for
				delayed payments. The department may send its request for payment to all
				potentially liable persons who are under an order or decree for the remedial
				action costs at the site. The department shall charge an hourly rate based on
				direct staff costs plus support costs. It is the department's intention that
				the resulting hourly rate charged be less than the hourly rate typically
				charged by a comparably sized consulting firm providing similar services. The
				department shall use the following formula for computing hourly rates:
Hourly Rate = DSC + DSC(ASCM) + DSC(PSCM), where:
DSC = Direct Staff Costs defined in (a) of this
				  subsection.
ASCM = Agency Support Cost Multiplier defined in (b) of this
				  subsection.
PSCM = Program Support Cost Multiplier defined in (c) of this
				  subsection.
(a) Costs of direct
				activities are direct staff costs and other direct costs. Direct staff costs
				(DSC) are the costs of hours worked directly on a contaminated site, including
				salaries, retirement plan benefits, Social Security benefits, health care
				benefits, leave and holiday benefits, and other benefits required by law to be
				paid to, or on behalf of, employees. Other direct costs are costs incurred as a
				direct result of department staff working on a contaminated site including, for
				example, costs of: Travel related to the site, printing and publishing of
				documents about the site, purchase or rental of equipment used for the site,
				and contracted work for the site.
(b) Agency support costs are the costs of
				facilities, communications, personnel, fiscal, and other statewide and
				agency-wide services. The agency support cost multiplier (ASCM) used shall be
				the agency indirect rate approved by the agency's federal cognizant agency
				(which, as of July 1, 1993, was the United States Department of the Interior)
				for each fiscal year.
(c) Program
				support costs are the costs of administrative time spent by site managers and
				other staff who work directly on sites and a portion of the cost of management,
				clerical, policy, computer, financial, and other support provided by other
				program staff to site managers and other staff who work directly on sites.
				Other activities of the toxics cleanup program not included in program support
				costs include, for example, community relations not related to a specific site,
				policy development, and a portion of the cost of nonsite management, clerical,
				policy, computer, financial, and other support staff. The program support cost
				multiplier (PSCM) used shall be calculated by dividing actual program support
				costs by the direct staff costs of all hours charged to site related work. This
				multiplier shall be evaluated at least biennially and any changes published in
				at least two publications of the
Contaminated Site Register
.
				The calculation and source documents used in any revision shall be audited by
				either the state auditor's office or a private accounting firm. Audit results
				shall be available for public review. This multiplier shall not exceed 1.0
				(one).