OAR 340-266-0050: Registration, Permits, Fees, Records

In administering a field burning smoke management program, the Department may contract with counties or fire districts or other responsible individual to administer registration of acreage, issuance of permits, collection of fees, and keeping of records for open field burning, propane flaming, or stack burning within their permit jurisdictions. The Department shall pay said authority for these services in accordance with the payment schedule provided for in ORS 468A.615. Three-quarters of said payment shall be made prior to July 1 of each year and the remainder shall be paid within ten days after completion of the end of season reconciliation: (1) Registration of acreage: (a) On or before April 1 of each year, each grower intending to open burn or propane flame under this Division shall register the total acreage to be open burned or propane flamed. Said acreage shall be registered with the Department or its authorized permit agent on the registration forms provided. Candidate fields for open burning or propane flaming shall be listed on the registration form and shall also be delineated on specially provided registration map materials and identified using a unique field reference code. Each candidate field listed shall state if the field is located in a priority area, contains a critical nonburn area, is a problem field, or is being requested for emergency burning. Registration, listing of fields, and mapping shall be completed according to the established procedures of the Department. Fields to be registered for burning must be planted in crops that can be open burned or propane flamed in the same year they are registered, and must be owned or under the control of the registrant. At the time of registration, a non-refundable registration fee of $4 shall be paid for each acre registered for open field burning and $2 shall be paid for each acre registered for propane flaming. The registration fees for open field burning and propane flaming shall be paid into separate designated accounts. A complete registration (permit application) shall consist of a fully executed registration form, map and fee. Acreage registered by April 1 may be issued a burn permit if: (A) Allocation is available; and (B) The initial registration fee account has a sufficient balance. (b) Registration for stack burning will occur twice annually. Each grower intending to stack burn under this Division during the first stack burn period of February 5 through May 31, must register between January 2 through January 31. (c) Each grower intending to stack burn under this Division during the second stack burn period of October 5 through December 31, must register between September 1 and September 30. (d) Registration of open field burning and propane flaming acreage after April 1 of each year shall require the prior approval of the Department and an additional $2 per acre late registration fee. The late registration fee shall not be charged if the late registration is not due to the fault of the registrant or one under the registrant's control; (e) Copies of all registration forms and fees shall be forwarded to the Department promptly by the permit agent. Registration map materials shall be made available to the Department at all times for inspection and reproduction; (f) The Department shall act on any registration application within 60 days of receipt of a completed application. The Department may deny or revoke any registration application which is incomplete, false or contrary to state law or this division; (g) The grower registrant shall insure the information presented on the registration form and map is complete and accurate. (2) Permits: (a) Permits for open field burning, propane flaming, or stack burning shall be issued by the Department, or its authorized permit agent, to the grower registrant in accordance with the established procedures of the Department, and the times, locations, amounts and other restrictions set forth by the Department or this Division; (b) A fire permit from the designated fire permit issuing agency is also required for all open burning pursuant to ORS 477.515, 476.380, 478.960; (c) A valid open field burning permit shall consist of: (A) An open field burning permit issued by the Department which specifies the permit conditions in effect at all times while burning and which identifies the acreage specifically registered and annually allocated for burning; (B) A validation number issued by the designated permit agent on the day of the burn identifying the specific acreage allowed for burning and the date and time the permit was issued. (d) A valid propane flaming permit shall consist of: (A) A propane flaming permit issued by the Department which specifies the permit conditions in effect at all times while flaming and which identifies the acreage specifically registered and annually allocated for propane flaming; (B) A validation number issued by the designated permit agent identifying the specific acreage allowed for propane flaming and the date and time the permit was issued. (e) A valid stack burning permit shall consist of the name of the responsible person and date the permit was issued, and shall specify the acreage and location authorized; (f) Each responsible person open field burning, propane flaming, or stack burning shall pay a per acre burn fee within ten days of the date the permit was issued. The fee shall be: (A) $16 per acre sanitized by open field burning; (B) $4 per acre sanitized by propane flaming; (C) $10 per acre burned in stacks. (D) For grass seed and cereal grain residue from previous seasons, broken bales, or fields where a portion of straw was removed using usual or standard baling methods, the acreage actually burned shall be estimated and the same per acre fee as imposed in paragraph (C) of this subsection shall be charged. The estimated acreage shall be rounded to the nearest whole acre. (g) Burning permits shall at all times be limited by and subject to the burn schedule and other requirements or conditions announced or set forth by the Department; (h) No person shall issue burning permits for open field burning, propane flaming, or stack burning of: (A) More acreage than the amount sub-allocated annually to the grower by the Department pursuant to OAR 340-266-0060(2); (B) Priority or fire safety buffer zone acreage located on the upwind side of any city, airport, Interstate freeway or highway within the same priority area or buffer zone. (i) It is the responsibility of each designated permit issuing agency to establish and implement a system for distributing open field burning, propane flaming, or stack burning permits to individual grower registrants when burning is authorized, provided that such system is fair, orderly and consistent with state law, this Division and any other provisions set forth by the Department. (3) Fees: (a) Permit agents shall collect, properly document, and promptly forward all required registration, late registration fees, and burn fees to the Department; (b) All fees shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of Agriculture Service Fund. (4) Records: (a) Permit agents shall at all times keep proper and accurate records of all transactions pertaining to registrations, permits, fees, allocations, and other matters specified by the Department. Such records shall be kept by the permit agent for a period of at least five years and made available for inspection by the appropriate authorities; (b) Permit agents shall submit to the Department on specially provided forms weekly reports of all acreage burned in their permit jurisdictions. These reports shall cover the weekly period of Monday through Sunday, and shall be returned to the Department no later than the first working day of the following week.