The Montana Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board
In the News...
January 2010
Why did you get the certified letter from the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board?:
The 2009 legislation requires, if an owner or operator disagrees with a Board determination, the owner or operator may submit a written request for a hearing before the Board. The law requires the Board to advise the owner or operator via certified mail of a 120-day limit for submitting a written request for a hearing to the Board. Not less than 50 days or more than 60 days after the notice of determination, the Board shall serve a second notice by certified mail advising the owner or operator of the deadline for requesting a hearing. Board Staff interprets this law to apply to Board ratified claim adjustments and adverse eligibility decisions. Section 75-11-308(4), MCA.
Insurance Incentive Law:
Owners or operators seeking reimbursement for eligible costs from the Petroleum Tank Release Cleanup fund need to be aware of the insurance incentive, which became effective October 1, 2009. If owners or operators obtain reimbursement from their insurance companies for fund eligible corrective action costs before submitting any claims to the fund for reimbursement, then the eligible costs covered by the insurance company can be applied toward the owner's co-payment. It is therefore possible for the owner to reduce their statutorily required co-payment and save as much as $17,500. it is important for the owner to work with their consultant to seek reimbursement from any insurer before applying for reimbursement from the fund. If you have questions concerning this matter, please contact Paul Hicks at 406-841-5095 or e-mail phicks@mt.gov.
Maximum Reimbursement for Corrective Action Plans and Corrective Active Reports:
The Board Staff recalculated the industry standard in December 2009 consistent with the procedures utilized for consultant labor codes. The Board Staff computed the industry standard of costs for each standard plan and report, which will be the mean rate for each report plus the standard deviation, not to exceed 10% of that mean. In accordance with ARM 17.58.341(3)(a).
The maximum reimbursement for plans and reports is based upon all costs of plans and reports recorded in the database since 2001. Beginning that year, the staff began recording in the task comment field the requested costs for plans and reports. The standard deviation, mean, and mean + 10% are calculated. In no situation, will the maximum reimbursement for a plan or report be reduced below the current maximum rate.
Effective January 2010, new maximum reimbursements for plans and reports are available on the Form/Worksheets/Tables page.
Board Officers Re-elected:
Mr. Cross was re-elected as Presiding Officer and Roger Noble as Vice presiding Officer of the PTRCB at the December 7th meeting. You can view all of the members on our Board Members page.
2010 Board Meeting Schedule:
The schedule for the 2010 PTRCB meetings were approved at the December 7th meeting and can be viewed on our Board Meetings page.
