Court Opinion

ID: 9603098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:03:15.645584+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:08.427146
License: Public Domain

Brachtenbach, J.
The issue here is whether respondents International Paper Company (IP) and Longview Fibre Company (LF) timely applied under RCW 82.34-.010(5) for pollution control tax exemption and credit certificates.
RCW 82.34 provides that taxpayers who purchase a properly certified pollution control facility are exempt from sales or use taxes. Alternatively, they can elect to take a credit against taxes due under the business and occupation tax, use tax, or public utility tax. Pollution control "facilities" include treatment works, control devices, disposal systems, and any other equipment installed for the primary purpose of controlling air or water pollution. RCW 82.34-.010(1).
After installing air pollution control facilities, IP and LF applied to appellant Department of Revenue (Revenue) for tax exemption and credit certificates. IP applied for a certificate in 1971 and for another certificate in 1973. LF applied for one certificate in 1972 and for another three in 1973. The director of Revenue denied the applications as untimely. The Superior Court reversed the director's decision and ordered him to process the applications. We accepted direct review. We affirm on different grounds and remand for processing of the applications in accordance with this opinion.
To be eligible for RCW 82.34's tax exemptions and credits, a taxpayer must timely apply for "a pollution control tax exemption and credit certificate.” RCW 82.34.010(5) provides that such an application "will be deemed timely made if made within one year after the effective date of specific requirements for such facility promulgated by the appropriate control agency." (Italics ours.)
The parties dispute the meaning of this language from RCW 82.34.010(5). They agree that the "appropriate control agencies" are the Department of Ecology (DOE) and the Southwest Air Pollution Control Authority (SWAPCA). *279See 82.34.010(6). They also agree that the "specific requirements for such facility" are the compliance schedules "promulgated" by DOE and SWAPCA, which establish a particular plant's timetable for control of its pollutants. They differ, however, on the interpretation they give the term "effective date."
Revenue argues that its director correctly ruled that the "effective date" of a compliance schedule is the date which the schedule is issued, i.e., the issuance date. Respondents argue that the Superior Court correctly ruled that the "effective date" is the date on which the pollution control facility finally is in operation as required by the schedule, i.e., the operative date. However, we believe that the "effective date" mentioned in RCW 82.34.010(5) is neither the issuance date nor the operative date.
We look to the intention of the legislature to resolve this issue. While statutory exceptions from taxing laws are construed narrowly, Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park Co. v. Department of Revenue, 89 Wn.2d 660, 663, 574 P.2d 735 (1978), we have on a previous occasion harmonized the words and provisions of RCW 82.34 to ascertain legislative intent. Publishers Forest Prods. Co. v. State, 81 Wn.2d 814, 816-19, 505 P.2d 453 (1973). In Publishers, we harmonized RCW 82.34's various provisions to find the legislature's intent to permit the assignment of pollution control tax exemption and credit certificates. When we harmonize the various provisions of RCW 82.34 here, we find that the term "effective date" in RCW 82.34.010(5) was meant by the legislature to refer to a compliance schedule's date for completion of engineering.
A compliance schedule establishes a timetable within which a specific plant or source of pollution must control its emission of pollutants to comply with the general emission standards adopted by DOE and SWAPCA. A compliance schedule normally includes four dates for (a) completion of engineering; (b) ordering of equipment; (c) installation of equipment; (d) final and full compliance with control order. Date (a), the engineering completion date, is *280the schedule's "effective date." This result is compelled by the harmonization of RCW 82.34.
Although DOE and SWAPCA do not have authority to require the installation of any particular pollution control equipment, they do review proposed engineering plans to determine adequacy and speediness of installation and operation. Likewise, they oversee the proper installation of equipment.
The record here indicates that frequently the engineering — the first step in the compliance process — is neither set for completion nor approved by DOE or SWAPCA until more than a year after the issuance of the compliance order. If certificate applications must be filed within 1 year of this issuance date, as appellant argues, a number of taxpayers therefore cannot comply with RCW 82.34's other provisions. The result is disharmony in the statute.
For example, the application procedure for a pollution control tax exemption and credit certificate is outlined in RCW 82.34.020. That section provides:
An application for a certificate shall be filed with the department in such manner and in such form as may be prescribed by the department. The application shall contain estimated or actual costs, plans and specifications of the facility including all materials incorporated or to be incorporated therein and a list describing, and showing the cost, of all equipment acquired or to be acquired by the applicant for the purpose of pollution control, together with the operating procedure for the facility, or a time schedule for the acquisition and installation or attachment of the facility and the proposed operating procedure for such facility.
Here, because LF's engineering due date was 16 months after issuance of its compliance schedule, it could not possibly within 1 year from the issuance date provide Revenue with "estimated or actual costs, plans and specifications,11 "materials incorporated or to be incorporated," "equipment acquired or to be acquired," or "the operating procedure . . . and the proposed operating procedure." And, while *281IP's engineering due date was within 3 months of the issuance date of the compliance schedule, it could not possibly provide Revenue with RCW 82.34.020 data within 1 year of the issuance date because its engineering plans were not approved by SWAPCA until 18 months after that date. This result does not harmonize with RCW 82.34.020.
Moreover, if certificate applications must be filed within 1 year of the operative date, as respondents argue, then RCW 82.34.020's mention of estimated costs, plans and specifications is meaningless. This result creates disharmony in RCW 82.34 since effect must be given, if possible, to every word in a statute. Metcalf v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 11 Wn. App. 819, 822, 525 P.2d 819 (1974); 2A C. Sands, Sutherland's Statutory Construction § 46.06, at 63 (4th ed. 1973).
We hold that, under RCW 82.34.010(5), IP and LF had 1 year from the date on which engineering for their plants was to be completed to make timely applications for pollution control tax exemption and credit certificates. We remand the cause to process respondents' applications in accord with the view expressed herein.
Utter, C.J., and Stafford, Wright, Horowitz, Dolliver, and Hicks, JJ., concur.