Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024
A.
An owner or operator, and/or guarantor, may satisfy the requirements of LAC
33:XI.1107 by passing a financial test as specified in this Section. To pass
the financial test of self-insurance, the owner or operator, and/or guarantor
shall meet the criteria of Subsection B or C of this Section based on year-end
financial statements for the latest completed fiscal year.
B. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor,
shall meet the requirements of Paragraph 1 of this Subsection below.
1. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor,
shall meet the following requirements.
a. The
owner or operator, and/or guarantor, shall have a tangible net worth of at
least 10 times:
i. the total of the
applicable aggregate amount required by LAC 33:XI.1107, based on the number of
underground storage tanks for which a financial test is used to demonstrate
financial responsibility to the administrative authority under this
Section;
ii. the sum of the
corrective action cost estimates, the current closure and post-closure care
cost estimates, and the amount of liability coverage for which a financial test
is used to demonstrate financial responsibility under LAC 33:V.3322, 3707,
3711, 3715, 4403, 4407, and 4411; and
iii. the sum of current plugging and
abandonment cost estimates for which a financial test is used to demonstrate
financial responsibility to EPA under
40 CFR
144.63.
b. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor,
shall have a tangible net worth of at least $10 million.
c. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor,
shall have a letter signed by the chief financial officer worded as specified
in Subsection D of this Section.
d.
The owner or operator, and/or guarantor, shall either:
i. file financial statements annually with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Energy Information
Administration, or the Rural Utilities Service; or
ii. report annually the firm's tangible net
worth to Dun and Bradstreet, and Dun and Bradstreet shall have assigned the
firm a financial strength rating of 4A or 5A.
e. The firm's year-end financial statements,
if independently audited, cannot include an adverse auditor's opinion, a
disclaimer of opinion, or a "going concern" qualification.
C. The owner or operator, and/or
guarantor shall meet the following requirements.
1. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor
shall meet the financial test requirements of LAC 33:V.3715.F.1, substituting
the appropriate amounts specified in LAC 33:XI.1107.B.1 for the "amount of
liability coverage" each time specified in that Section.
2. The fiscal year-end financial statements
of the owner or operator, and/or guarantor, shall be examined by an independent
certified public accountant and be accompanied by the accountant's report of
the examination.
3. The firm's
year-end financial statements cannot include an adverse auditor's opinion, a
disclaimer of opinion, or a "going concern" qualification.
4. The owner or operator, and/or guarantor,
shall have a letter signed by the chief financial officer, worded as specified
in Subsection D of this Section.
5.
If the financial statements of the owner or operator, and/or guarantor, are not
submitted annually to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Energy
Information Administration, or the Rural Utilities Service, the owner or
operator, and/or guarantor, shall obtain a special report by an independent
certified public accountant stating that:
a.
he has compared the data that the letter from the chief financial officer
specifies as having been derived from the latest year-end financial statements
of the owner or operator, and/or guarantor, with the amounts in such financial
statements; and
b. in connection
with that comparison, no matters came to his attention which caused him to
believe that the specified data should be adjusted.
D. To demonstrate that it meets
the financial test under Subsection B or C of this Section, the chief financial
officer of the owner or operator, or guarantor, shall sign, within 120 days of
the close of each financial reporting year, as defined by the
12-month period for which financial statements used to support the financial
test are prepared, a letter worded exactly as follows, except that the
instructions in brackets are to be replaced by the relevant information and the
brackets deleted. To prepare this letter, the owner or operator shall use the
form required by the department. This form may be obtained from the Office of
Environmental Assessment.
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E. If an owner or operator using the test to
provide financial assurance finds that he or she no longer meets the
requirements of the financial test based on the year-end financial statements,
the owner or operator shall obtain alternative coverage within 150 days of the
end of the year for which financial statements have been prepared.
F. The administrative authority may require
reports of financial condition at any time from the owner or operator, and/or
guarantor. If the administrative authority finds, on the basis of such reports
or other information, that the owner or operator, and/or guarantor, no longer
meets the financial test requirements of LAC 33:XI.1111.B or C and D, the owner
or operator shall obtain alternate coverage within 30 days after notification
of such a finding.
G. If the owner
or operator fails to obtain alternate assurance within 150 days of finding that
he or she no longer meets the requirements of the financial test based on the
year-end financial statements, or within 30 days of notification by the
administrative authority that he or she no longer meets the requirements of the
financial test, the owner or operator shall notify the Office of Environmental
Assessment of such failure within 10 days.
AUTHORITY NOTE:
Promulgated in accordance with
R.S.
30:2001 et
seq.
