Conservation

Conservation

P Passed

P HB1582

Dam safety. Authorizes the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to order the lowering or complete draining of an earthen impoundment if it has been determined that the impoundment structure is unsafe. Only authorized persons may maintain the impounding structure.

Patron - Davies

P HB1747

Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. Renames the Virginia Conservation and Recreation Foundation, Fund and Board of Trustees as the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, Fund and Board of Trustees, and requires that unrestricted moneys in the Fund be allocated equally among the following uses: natural area protection, open spaces and parks, farmlands and forest preservation, and historic area preservation. The bill also allows moneys in the fund to be used for matching grants to localities, public bodies and nonprofit organizations for purchasing interests in land for land conservation purposes. Matching grants for natural area protection require a recommendation from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, based on specific criteria. This is a recommendation of the Commission on the Future of Virginia's Environment. This bill is identical to SB 1304.

Patron - Deeds

P HB1748

Solid waste. Makes numerous changes to Virginia's laws regulating solid waste. The bill expands the required review and determinations that must be made by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) when it considers permit applications related to solid waste management facilities and the siting of new landfills, including prohibiting new landfills in seven types of environmentally or geologically sensitive areas. The Virginia Solid Waste Environmental Stewardship Fund is created and will be funded through a tonage based assessment. The assessment has a $1 per ton base which may increase up to $2 per ton based on daily volume of municipal solid waste disposed of in a landfill. The Fund may be used for grants to local governments and certain types of political subdivisions for proper closure of landfills without proper liner and leachate control systems, whether owned by the local government or political subdivisions or abandoned in their jurisdiction. Localities and public service authorities may opt out of having their wastes included in the assessment if they dedicate an equivalent amount to the same purposes as the Fund or for recycling efforts. The bill also requires the development of regulations governing truck transport of municipal solid waste; provides for the incorporation into permits of guarantees for municipal solid waste disposal capacity for Virginia localities, in accordance with solid waste management plans; requires agreements between host localities and applicants for new or expanded landfill operations; requires certification by waste transporters that waste is suitable for disposal at a facility before the facility may accept it; requires DEQ to extend post-closure monitoring and maintenance and financial assurance requirements when necessary to protect human health and the environment; and imposes a one-year moratorium on permit issuance for new landfills except for those permits for which a notice of intent was filed before January 1, 1999. DEQ is also directed to conduct a comprehensive study of waste management practices and needs. The bill contains technical amendments. This bill is identical to SB 865.

Patron - Deeds

P HB2081

Department of Forestry. Clarifies the manner in which the State Forester may accept and manage gifts of land, personal property and money on behalf of the Commonwealth for state forest purposes, and authorizes him to convey or lease land so acquired, with the approval of the Governor and General Assembly. The bill also provides that approval by the General Assembly shall not be required for the sale or harvesting of timber on state forest lands or other lands over which the Department has supervision and control.

Patron - Baker

P HB2178

Department of Environmental Quality enforcement. Adds to the purposes of the Department of Environmental Quality that the laws, regulations, and policies which apply to permit and certificate holders be consistently enforced regardless of whether the facility is owned or operated by a public or private entity.

Patron - Purkey

P HB2268

Suspended solids; Water Quality Improvement Act Grants. Includes suspended solids in the nonexclusive list of pollutants that may be the object of water quality protection efforts funded by nonpoint source pollution-related Water Quality Improvement Act Grants.

Patron - Murphy

P HB2318

Educational institution Water Quality Improvement Fund grant eligibility. Specifies that institutions of higher education are eligible to receive grants from the Water Quality Improvement Fund.

Patron - Ware

P HB2430

Regulation of wastes transported on water. Adds to the directives on the types of regulations to be developed for containers carrying certain wastes by ship, barge or other vessels on the waters of the Commonwealth. To the extent allowable under federal law, the regulations are to include provisions related to: (i) container testing; (ii) manifests on waste suitability for destination disposal facilities; and (iii) the number of containers that can be stacked upon each other and how the containers are secured. Facilities may not receive commercially transported wastes from a ship, barge or other vessel until the regulatory program has been developed. Fees for facilities receiving the wastes from a ship, barge or other vessels are to be increased to cover the cost of at least a quarterly inspection program by the Department of Environmental Quality.

Patron - Murphy

P HB2443

Regulated land-disturbing activities; submission and approval of control plan. Permits the annual filing by certain utilities of erosion and sediment control plans with the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board. This bill extends to natural gas and natural gas pipeline companies the same treatment that railroads, and electric and telephone utilities are afforded. Under the bill, if the erosion and sediment control plan is filed by the utility is not acted upon by the Board within 60 days, the plan's specifications are deemed to be approved.

Patron - Dillard

P HB2471

Solid waste management and enforcement. Prohibits the issuance of permits for the siting of new municipal solid waste landfills in wetlands. The prohibition does not apply to an expansion into the great dismal swamp sought by the Southeastern Public Service Authority. Routine groundwater monitoring at landfills in wetland areas or within their proximity is doubled unless the Department of Environmental Quality Director finds that less frequent monitoring is necessary. The Virginia Waste Management Board is authorized to issue administrative orders that may include monetary penalties, and may require the violator to take corrective action and cease activities in cases where solid waste management laws, regulations, permits or orders are not being complied with. There is also a technical amendment.

Patron - Morgan

P HB2490

Historic preservation fund. Authorizes the transfer of the assets of the Historic Resources Revolving Fund, administered by the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Historic Preservation Foundation, to a private organization, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA). Under a trust agreement the assets will be deposited in the newly established Virginia Preservation Trust Fund, which will be managed and administered by APVA. The new trustees are to serve without compensation. The Trust Fund is to consist of any property, gifts, grants, or appropriations made to the Trust Fund. The sole purpose of the new fund is to preserve properties listed or eligible for listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register through the (i) acquisition of such properties, (ii) donation of a perpetual preservation easement on such properties, or (iii) subsequent resale of the protected properties. Certain provisions of the bill seek to ensure that the Commonwealth's interests are protected during the course of the transfer of the assets. The Director of the Department of Historic Resources will serve as a voting member of APVA's Property Committee, and he will, along with the Attorney General, receive, by November 1 of each year, the annual financial audit of the Trust Fund. The Board of Trustees of the Virginia Historic Preservation Foundation will retain the power to review the operations of the Trust Fund until January 1, 2003. If it finds that the provisions of the trust agreement are not being carried out, it can recommend to the Governor that APVA be removed as the trustee. After January 1, 2003, if the Trust Fund has not been reconveyed to the Board of Trustees, the Board will cease to exist and its powers will be abolished. The Attorney General will retain the power to take any legal action to enforce the trust.

Patron - Guest

P HB2555

Caps on landfill disposal. Caps the amount of municipal solid waste that may be disposed of in a landfill at 2,000 tons per day, or the actual amount disposed of in 1998, whichever is greater. An alternative cap calculation method is provided for landfills that have not been operating for a sufficient length of time to provide an equitable cap. The Waste Management Board may allow additional disposal at a facility after considering certain factors and after a public hearing has been held. Waste mined from a substandard landfill for re-disposal in a proper landfill is not to count against the cap. The provisions do not allow for any increased disposal activity above levels that may be set by any other means. Additional requirements are placed on the DEQ director before he can issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill. This bill is identical to SB 1201.

Patron - Cox

P HB2556

Water transport of wastes. Provides for the prohibition, to the fullest extent consistent with limitations posed by the Constitution of the United States and as is necessary to protect health, safety and welfare and the environment, the commercial transport of certain types of wastes, by ship, barge or other vessel, on the Rappahannock, James and York Rivers. The Virginia Department of Transportation is to conduct a study on the impact any such prohibition may have on highway safety. This bill is identical to SB 1308.

Patron - Cox

P HB2557

Solid waste management. Makes numerous changes to Virginia's laws regulating solid waste. The bill expands the required review and determinations that must be made by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) when it considers permit applications related to solid waste management facilities and the siting of new landfills, including prohibiting new landfills in seven types of environmentally or geologically sensitive areas. The Virginia Landfill Clean-up and Closure Fund is created to make grants to local governments and political subdivisions which exist to provide solid waste management services (public service authorities and sanitary districts) for proper closure of landfills without adequate liner and leachate control systems, whether owned by the local government or political subdivision or abandoned in their jurisdiction. The source of funds for the Fund is the general fund. The bill also requires the development of regulations governing truck transport of municipal solid waste; provides for the incorporation into permits of guarantees for municipal solid waste disposal capacity for Virginia localities in accordance with solid waste management plans; requires agreements between host localities and applicants for new or expanded landfill operations; requires certification by waste transporters that waste is suitable for disposal at a facility before the facility may accept it; requires DEQ to extend post-closure monitoring and maintenance and financial assurance requirements when necessary to protect human health and the environment; and imposes a one-year moratorium on permit issuance for new landfills except for those permits for which a notice of intent was filed before January 1, 1999. DEQ is also directed to conduct a comprehensive study of waste management practices and needs. There are also technical amendments. This bill is identical to SB 1309.

Patron - Cox

P HB2589

Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund. Allows the Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund to be used for an appraisal when a grant from the Fund is being used to purchase a conservation easement. The bill also allows the Board of Historic Resources to be a co-holder of an easement for which a grant is made from the Fund and allows the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to act on a grant application in the event a regional advisory board fails to make a recommendation on the application.

Patron - Wilkins

P HB2668

Forestry technical assistance. Requires the State Forester, in preparing plans and providing technical assistance for the protection, management and replacement of trees, wood lots and timber tracts, and the establishment and preservation of urban forests, to use generally accepted forestry principles.

Patron - Guest

P HB2689

Air emissions trading. Authorizes the State Air Pollution Control Board to establish an emissions trading program based upon emission caps. Currently, the Board is authorized to establish a voluntary, or open-market, emissions trading program which does not utilize emission caps. The federal program allows states to use emissions trading to achieve the reduction in air emissions, but the program must be based on emission caps. The new language will allow the implementation of an emissions trading program which will satisfy federal requirements for NOx reduction and should expedite the EPA's approval of the State Implementation Plan.

Patron - Albo

P HB2705

Expedited settlement of waste site liability. Allows the Virginia Waste Management Board to expedite determinations to limit the liability of innocent landowners, de minimis contributors or others who have grounds to claim limited responsibility for a contaminated waste site clean up.

Patron - Bryant

P SB736

Property exchange. Authorizes the Department of Conservation and Recreation to convey a parcel of land in Pedlar Hills in Montgomery County in exchange for a right-of-way across private property.

Patron - Marye

P SB801

Care of Confederate graves. Adds Emmanuel Episcopal Church at Brook Hill in Henrico County, which maintains 86 Confederate graves, to the list of those entities receiving funds through the Department of Historic Resources for the care of such graves.

Patron - Watkins

P SB865

Patron - Hanger

P SB1029

Soil survey. Extends the date for completion of the inventory of Virginia's soil resources from the year 2000 to 2006 and makes completion of the survey contingent upon the availability of state and federal resources.

Patron - Hanger

P SB1146

Small Business Environmental Compliance Assistance Fund. Allows money from the Fund to be used to make loans or to guarantee loans for the installation of agricultural best management practices.

Patron - Hanger

P SB1201

Patron - Bolling

P SB1304

Patron - Hanger

P SB1308

Patron - Bolling

P SB1309

Patron - Bolling

F Failed

F HB1466

Clean-up and closure of landfills. Allows landfills authorized under HB 1205 (1993), which do not meet modern requirements for liners and leachate collection systems, to continue operating. As introduced, the bill required closure of the "HB 1205" landfills.

Patron - McEachin

F HB1677

Medical waste penalties. Specifies that it is a felony, punishable by one to five years in prison or up to $ 25,000 or both, to knowingly transport regulated medical waste to an unpermitted facility, to knowingly transport, treat, store or dispose of regulated medical waste without, or in violation of, a permit, or to knowingly make a false statement on any documentation used for purposes of regulated medical waste compliance programs. The knowing transport, treatment, storage, disposal or export of regulated medical waste in violation of the Solid Waste Management Law or Solid Waste Management Board regulations by one who knows that he is placing another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury is specified as a felony punishable by two to fifteen years in prison or a fine of up to $250,000, or both. Under this latter provision, a defendant who is not an individual may be fined the lesser of one million dollars or three times the economic benefit realized as a result of the offense. There is also a technical amendment.

Patron - Morgan

F HB1773

Solid waste transportation and management. Requires that descriptions of routes taken by those transporting municipal solid waste by truck be provided before solid waste management facilities may accept the waste. Providing false information and avoiding weigh stations are made violations of the solid waste management law. Caps are placed on the volume of waste that a landfill may receive. The Landfill Clean-up and Closure Fund is created from a per-ton fee on municipal solid waste over 200 tons per day disposed of at a landfills. The per-ton fee increases with increasing volumes. The Fund is to be used for the clean-up and closure of landfills that do not have adequate liners or leachate collection systems or which have been abandoned in violation of the Commonwealth's waste management laws. The cap portion of the bill was incorporated into HB 2555.

Patron - Marshall

F HB1830

Forestry; logger education. Directs the Department of Forestry to promulgate regulations requiring logging operations to have a person on-site who has competed a master logger's education program.

Patron - Phillips

F HB2066

Water Quality Improvement Fund Grant uses. Clarifies that Water Quality Improvement Fund Grants are not to be issued for the purpose of enabling the recipient to comply with permit requirements.

Patron - Murphy

F HB2069

Water Quality Improvement Fund. Clarifies that required payments into the Revenue Stabilization Fund are not to be included in the calculation of the 10 percent of any unreserved general fund balances remaining at the end of each fiscal year which are to be deposited into the Water Quality Improvement Fund. The bill also clarifies that the Fund is not to be used for the purpose of compliance with any point source pollution control permit or any enforcement action related to such a permit.

Patron - Murphy

F HB2070

Return of used tires. Requires retailers of new tires to accept, for proper disposal, used tires from purchasers. Retailers are not required to accept more used tires than new tires being sold. Retailers are, at the time of sale, to charge a $1.00 per tire fee as compensation. Retailers storing up to 200 used tires for less than 30 days are exempt from certain permitting requirements.

Patron - Murphy

F HB2099

Moratorium on landfill permit issuance. Prohibits the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality from issuing, prior to July 1, 2000, any permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill. The Director may, however, take action on and issue permits for which a notice of intent has been filed prior to January 1, 1999. This is emergency legislation.

Patron - Bryant

F HB2225

Erosion and sediment control recovery fund. Allows Stafford County (described by population), in lieu of existing security for performance requirements set forth in the erosion and sediment control law, to establish an erosion and sediment control recovery fund. Such fund shall be used for single family residential development only, and shall be used to provide erosion and sediment control protection in cases where the developer has failed to meet the requirements of the local erosion and sediment control ordinance. The County shall establish such fund by requiring an additional fee from building permit applicants and directing such additional fee to the fund. The amount of such additional fee shall be established by the governing body in the ordinance and shall be required only for such period of time as necessary to raise the fund to a level deemed adequate by the locality to provide the necessary erosion and sediment control protection.

Patron - Howell

F HB2273

Virginia Natural Resources Policy Act. Creates the Virginia Natural Resources Policy Act. The act repeals the existing Environmental Impact Statement review process (which applies to state projects using $100,000 in state funds) and replaces it with a natural resource impact review process which applies to actions utilizing $500,000 or more of state-provided funds for the acquisition of an interest in land, for the construction of any new facility, or for the improvement, expansion, support or maintenance of an existing facility. Policies against which such actions are to be judged are expressed in the act. The Virginia Natural Resources Council is created to review the natural resource impact reports and provide comment to the Governor. State funds are not to be dispersed for actions reviewable by the Council without the Governor's approval following his review of the Council's comments. Among the Council's other duties are those to (i) foster the coordination and implementation of natural resource policies; (ii) biennially produce a report which includes a review of the state of the Commonwealth's natural resources; (iii) assist localities, when requested, in the evaluation of actions with potential natural resource impacts; and (iv) provide staff support to meetings which are to be held at least quarterly by the Secretaries and other members of the Governor's cabinet. The cabinet-level meetings are to review programs, policies and major initiatives to (a) identify conflicts with natural resource preservation efforts and the purposes and policies set forth in the act; (b) evaluate the natural resource benefits and burdens of each Secretariat's programs, policies and initiatives, including the expenditure of state funds; and (c) develop planning, coordination and policy decisions to achieve the purposes and policies of the act, including measures to utilize state funding in a manner that preserves and protects the Commonwealth's natural resources.

Patron - Murphy

F HB2433

Solid waste management facility siting. Alters the sequence of events in the approval process for the siting of municipal solid waste landfills, waste incinerators, and facilities which will receive commercially transported waste from a barge, ship or other vessel. Currently, localities provide local land use permits prior to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) making a determination of site suitability. Under this bill, the DEQ director must make a determination of site suitability (commonly referred to as a "Part A permit") before a locality may provide approval through its local land use authority for the siting. The director must hold a public hearing in the locality where the facility is proposed to be located and must find that there are no site- related characteristics which would, as a result of the facility being constructed, have adverse impact on health, safety, and welfare, or the environment, before he provides site approval. Site approval by DEQ does not require that the locality provide approval.

Patron - Murphy

F HB2453

Caps on landfill disposal. Caps the amount of municipal solid waste that may be disposed of in a landfill at 2,000 tons per day, or the actual amount disposed of in 1998, whichever is greater. An alternative cap calculation method is provided for new landfills operating for only a portion of 1998. The Waste Management Board may allow additional disposal at a facility after considering certain factors and after a public hearing has been held. Waste mined from a substandard landfill for re-disposal in a proper landfill is not to count against the cap. Additional requirements are placed on the DEQ director before he can issue a permit for any new solid waste management facility. The provisions do not allow for any increased disposal activity above levels that may be set by any other means. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2555.

Patron - Williams

F HB2454

Transportation of wastes on water. Directs the Virginia Waste Management Board to prohibit to the fullest extent, consistent with limitations posed by the Constitution of the United States and as is necessary to protect health, safety and welfare and the environment, the commercial transport of certain types of solid waste, by ship, barge or other vessel, on the navigable waters of the Commonwealth. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2556.

Patron - Williams

F HB2486

Solid waste management. Provides that permits for new sanitary landfills shall only be issued to counties, cities or towns and that the locality to which the permit is issued must own the landfill.

Patron - Guest

F HB2650

Non-tidewater locality water quality assistance. Allows local governments outside of the area designated as "Tidewater Virginia" to receive assistance in developing and implementing a voluntary program, approved by the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board, to incorporate protection of the quality of state waters into their comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances and subdivision ordinances. In addition, any locality outside of Tidewater which voluntarily adopts criteria which Tidewater localities adopt pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act may receive technical and financial assistance from the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department.

Patron - Katzen

F HB2687

Local landfill referenda. Requires the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to notify, upon the completion of a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill or for an expansion of such a landfill, the county or city in which the landfill would be, or is, located. The county or city may then either decline to hold a referendum or request a referendum on the question of issuing a permit for the facility. The county or city must make its decision regarding the holding of a referendum within 60 days of the notice. If the county or city declines to hold a referendum, the DEQ Director may issue the permit. If a referendum is held, the DEQ Director may not issue the permit unless the question is approved.

Patron - Davis

F HB2735

Agricultural Stewardship Act. Conforms the definition of pollution in the Agricultural Stewardship Act to the definition of pollution in the State Water Control Law

Patron - Ruff

F SB1075

Phased reduction of out-of-state wastes. Places language in the Code that will be effective upon passage of federal legislation allowing the states to take steps to reduce the importation of out-of-state wastes. From a 1998 base year, imports would be reduced each year to 95 percent of the previous year's imports through 2004. After 2004, imports would be limited to 65 percent of 1993 levels. Agreements between landfill owners and operators and the locality where a landfill is located would be required as well. The minimum content of the host agreements is specified.

Patron - Stolle

F SB1133

Patron - Watkins

F SB1182

Regulation and management of solid waste. Caps the amount of municipal solid waste that may be disposed of in a landfill at 2,000 tons per day, or the actual amount disposed of in 1998, whichever is greater. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality may allow additional disposal at a facility, after considering certain factors and after a public hearing has been held. The provisions do not allow for any increased disposal activity above levels that may be set by any other means. The issuance of permits for new landfills is prohibited until the statewide disposal capacity falls below an eight-year supply. Directs the Virginia Waste Management Board to prohibit to the fullest extent, consistent with limitations posed by the Constitution of the United States and as is necessary to protect health, safety and welfare and the environment, the commercial transport of certain types of solid waste, by ship, barge or other vessel, on the navigable waters of the Commonwealth. Written authorization from the Department of Environmental Quality is required for the transport by truck of municipal solid waste destined for a landfill or waste to energy facility. Fees are assessed in increasing amounts based on the tonnage of the truck. Bonding requirements are established as is a manifest system to assure that waste is transported safely and is of the type allowable for disposal in destination facilities. Significant enforcement authority is granted to the Waste Management Board. Fees and penalties are to be deposited into a fund for implementation and enforcement of provisions related to waste transportation.

Patron - Walker

F SB1226

Management of solid waste. Caps the amount of municipal solid waste that may be disposed of in a landfill at 2,000 tons per day or the documented average actual amount disposed of in 1998, whichever is greater. The Virginia Waste Management Board may allow additional disposal at a facility after considering certain factors and after a public hearing has been held. The provisions do not allow for any increased disposal activity above levels that may be set by any other state or local permits, regulations, ordinances, agreements, contracts or other instruments related to particular facilities or localities. Provides for the prohibition, to the fullest extent consistent with limitations posed by the Constitution of the United States and as is necessary to protect health, safety and welfare and the environment, the commercial transport of certain types of wastes, by ship, barge or other vessel, on the Rappahannock, James and York Rivers. This bill was merged into SB 1201 and SB 1308.

Patron - Marsh

F SB1335

Redeemable beverage containers. Requires that all beverage containers sold in Virginia have a redemption value of at least 10 cents. Dealers and redemption centers are required to pay redeemers who return such containers to them the redemption value printed on the container. Distributors are required to pick up these redeemed containers from dealers and redemption centers and pay them the redemption value printed on each container plus a handling fee of two cents per container. By March 1, 2001, and by March 1 of each year thereafter, distributors are required to (i) file annual reports with the Department of Taxation indicating the total value of redemption fees collected and redemptions paid out during the previous calendar year and (ii) forward to the Department of Taxation that amount of money by which redemption fees collected exceeded redemptions paid out. After deducting its expenses incurred in administering the reporting and collecting procedures of this program, the Department of Taxation is required to pay the remaining revenues collected into the state treasury to the credit of the newly established Unredeemed Container Fund, which will be administered by the Department of Environmental Quality. The revenues remaining in the Unredeemed Container Fund are to be released annually and placed in the newly established Virginia Recycling Trust Fund, which is also to be administered by the Department of Environmental Quality. Moneys placed in the Virginia Recycling Trust Fund are to be expended by the Department of Environmental Quality for purposes of improving waste management and recycling efforts in the Commonwealth, and may be paid out in the form of direct or matching grants to localities for their waste management and recycling programs. Violations of the bill's provisions are punishable by civil penalties of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000. All civil penalties collected are to be placed in the Virginia Recycling Trust Fund.

Patron - Marye

CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

HOME | DLS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY

P Passed

F Failed