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2000 SESSION

002616728
HOUSE BILL NO. 625
Offered January 20, 2000
A BILL to amend and reenact § 62.1-44.15:5 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Virginia Water Protection Permit.
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Patrons-- Dickinson and Orrock; Senator: Houck
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Referred to Committee on Conservation and Natural Resources
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 62.1-44.15:5 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 62.1-44.15:5. Virginia Water Protection Permit.

A. After the effective date of regulations adopted by the Board pursuant to this section, issuance of a Virginia Water Protection Permit shall constitute the certification required under § 401 of the Clean Water Act.

B. The Board shall issue a Virginia Water Protection Permit for an activity requiring § 401 certification if it has determined that the proposed activity is consistent with the provisions of the Clean Water Act and will protect instream beneficial uses. The preservation of instream flows for purposes of the protection of navigation, maintenance of waste assimilation capacity, the protection of fish and wildlife resources and habitat, recreation, cultural, and aesthetic values is a beneficial use of Virginia's waters. Conditions contained in a Virginia Water Protection Permit may include, but are not limited to, the volume of water which may be withdrawn as a part of the permitted activity. Domestic and other existing beneficial uses shall be considered the highest priority uses. When a Virginia Water Protection Permit is conditioned upon compensatory mitigation for adverse impacts to wetlands, the applicant may be permitted to satisfy all or part of such mitigation requirements by the purchase or use of credits from any wetlands mitigation bank, including any banks owned by the permit applicant, that has been approved and is operating in accordance with applicable federal and state guidance, laws or regulations for the establishment, use and operation of mitigation banks as long as: (1) the bank is in the same U.S.G.S. cataloging unit, as defined by the Hydrologic Unit Map of the United States (U.S.G.S. 1980), or an adjacent cataloging unit within the same river watershed, as the impacted site, or it meets all the conditions found in clauses (i) through (iv) and either clause (v) or (vi) of this subsection; (2) the bank is ecologically preferable to practicable on-site and off-site individual mitigation options, as defined by federal wetland regulations; and (3) the banking instrument, if approved after July 1, 1996, has been approved by a process that included public review and comment. When the bank is not located in the same cataloging unit or adjacent cataloging unit within the same river watershed as the impacted site, the purchase or use of credits shall not be allowed unless the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Department of Environmental Quality that (i) the impacts will occur as a result of a Virginia Department of Transportation linear project or as the result of a locality project for a locality whose jurisdiction crosses multiple river watersheds; (ii) there is no practical same river watershed mitigation alternative; (iii) the impacts are less than one acre in a single and complete project within a cataloging unit; (iv) there is no significant harm to water quality or fish and wildlife resources within the river watershed of the impacted site; and either (v) impacts within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are mitigated within the Chesapeake Bay watershed as close as possible to the impacted site or (vi) impacts within U.S.G.S. cataloging units 02080108, 02080208, and 03010205, as defined by the Hydrologic Unit Map of the United States (U.S.G.S. 1980), are mitigated in-kind within those hydrologic cataloging units, as close as possible to the impacted site. After July 1, 2002, the provisions of clause (vi) shall apply only to impacts within subdivisions of the listed cataloging units where overlapping watersheds exist, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, provided the Department has made such a determination by that date.

C. Prior to the issuance of a Virginia Water Protection Permit, the Board shall consult with, and give full consideration to the written recommendations of, the following agencies: the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and any other interested and affected agencies. Such consultation shall include the need for balancing instream uses with offstream uses. Agencies may submit written comments on proposed permits within forty-five days after notification by the Board. The Board shall assume that if written comments are not submitted by an agency within this time period, the agency has no comments on the proposed permit.

D. No Virginia Water Protection Permit shall be required for any water withdrawal in existence on July 1, 1989; however, a permit shall be required if a new § 401 certification is required to increase a withdrawal.

No Virginia Water Protection Permit shall be required for any water withdrawal not in existence on July 1, 1989, if the person proposing to make the withdrawal has received a § 401 certification before January 1, 1989, with respect to installation of any necessary withdrawal structures to make such withdrawal; however, a permit shall be required before any such withdrawal is increased beyond the amount authorized by the certification.

E. Regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall include provisions under which a lake level contingency plan may be incorporated into a Virginia Water Protection Permit issued for a hydroelectric dam. For purposes of this subsection, “lake level contingency plan” means a plan that allows specific reductions in the flow required to be released from a dam when the reservoir above the dam drops below designated levels due to drought conditions.