An initial inspection fee shall be assessed on July 1, 1994, to all intrastate gas pipeline operators. The initial inspection fee is one hundred thousand dollars and shall be prorated among all intrastate gas pipeline operators based on their number of meters or miles of line, whichever is applicable, which are in service on December 31, 1993. To the extent it has jurisdiction, the commission shall allow the operator full rate recovery of the initial inspection fee. The operator may, within thirty days after the assessment is mailed, file written objections with the commission stating the grounds upon which it claims that the assessment is not reasonable. The commission shall within thirty days of receiving such objections hold a hearing and issue an order in accordance with its findings as to the proper amount to be assessed to the operator. The order may be appealed pursuant to chapter 1-26. If an operator does not pay, or object to, the initial inspection fee within thirty days after the assessment was mailed, the commission may impose a delinquency fee of ten percent of the initial inspection fee and interest at the rate of fifteen percent per year on the portion of the fee not paid. Fees collected under this section shall be credited to the pipeline safety account established in § 49-34B-9. Any interest earned on money in the fund shall be deposited in the fund. The money is continuously appropriated to the use of the commission to implement and administer the provisions of this chapter.

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Source: SL 1994, ch 357, § 10.