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1999 SESSION
986991376Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 10.1-2129 through 10.1-2132 and § 10.1-2134 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 10.1-2129. Agency coordination; conditions of grants.
A. Except as may otherwise be specified in the general appropriation act, the
Secretary of Natural Resources, in consultation with the State Forester and the
Directors of the Departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and
Recreation and of the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department and with the
advice and guidance of the Board of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia
Soil and Water Conservation Board, the State Water Control Board, and the
Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board, shall annually, following a public
comment period of at least thirty days' duration and a public hearing, (i)
allocate moneys in the Fund between point and nonpoint source pollution,
and (ii) develop written guidelines for the distribution and conditions of
Water Quality Improvement Grants and criteria for prioritizing funding
requests. In developing the guidelines the Secretary shall evaluate and
consider, in addition to such other factors as may be appropriate: (i) specific
practices and programs proposed in any tributary plan required by Article 2 (§
2.1-51.12:1 et seq.) of Chapter 5.1 of Title 2.1, and the associated effectiveness
and cost per pound of nutrients removed; (ii) water quality impairment or
degradation caused by different types of nutrients released in different
locations from different sources; and (iii) environmental benchmarks and
indicators for achieving improved water quality. The guidelines shall include
procedures for soliciting applications for funding and shall ensure that both
point and nonpoint source pollution are equitably addressed and funded in each
year.
B. In addition to those the Secretary deems advisable, the criteria for prioritizing funding requests shall include: (i) whether the location of the water quality restoration, protection or improvement project or program is within a watershed or subwatershed with documented water nutrient loading problems or adopted nutrient reduction goals; (ii) documented water quality impairment; (iii) the achievement of greater water quality improvements than that required by state or federal law; and (iv) the availability of other funding mechanisms. In the event of a local government grant application request for greater than fifty percent funding for any single project the Directors and the Secretary shall consider the comparative revenue capacity, revenue efforts and fiscal stress as reported by the Commission on Local Government. The development or implementation of cooperative programs developed pursuant to subsection B of § 10.1-2127 shall be given a high priority in the distribution of Virginia Water Quality Improvement Grants from the moneys allocated to nonpoint source pollution.
§ 10.1-2130. General provisions related to grants from the Fund.
All Water Quality Improvement Grants shall be governed by a legally binding and enforceable grant agreement between the recipient and the granting agency. In addition to provisions providing for payment of the total amount of the grant, the agreement shall at a minimum also contain provisions that govern design and installation and require proper long-term operation, monitoring and maintenance of funded projects, including design and performance criteria, as well as contractual or stipulated penalties in an amount sufficient to ensure compliance with the agreement, which may include repayment with interest, for any breach of the agreement, including failure to properly operate, monitor or maintain. Grant agreements shall be made available for public review and comment for a period of no less than thirty days but no more than sixty days prior to execution. The granting agency shall cause notice of a proposed grant agreement to be given to all applicants for Water Quality Improvement Grants whose applications are then pending and to any person requesting such notice.
§ 10.1-2131. Point source pollution funding; conditions for approval.
A. The Department of Environmental Quality shall be the lead state agency for determining the appropriateness of any grant related to point source pollution to be made from the Fund to restore, protect or improve state water quality.
B. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall, subject to available funds and in coordination with the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, direct the State Treasurer to make Water Quality Improvement Grants in accordance with the guidelines established pursuant to § 10.1-2129. The Director shall manage the allocation of grants from the Fund to ensure the full funding of executed grant agreements.
C. Notwithstanding Until such time as all tributary plans required by Article 2
(§ 2.1-51.12:1 et seq.) of Chapter 5.1 of Title 2.1 are developed and
implemented and notwithstanding the priority provisions of § 10.1-2129, in no
event shall the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality authorize the
distribution of grants from the Fund for purposes other than (i) financing at
least fifty percent of the cost of design and installation of biological nutrient removal
facilities or other nutrient removal technology at publicly owned wastewater
treatment works until such time as all tributary plans required by
Article 2 (§ 2.1-51.12:1 et seq.) of Chapter 5.1 of Title 2.1 are developed and
implemented. The Director shall manage the allocation of grants from the Fund
to ensure the full funding of executed grant agreements. and (ii) sharing the
cost of operational enhancements at publicly owned wastewater treatment works which serve
Virginia localities in order to achieve Virginia's nutrient reduction goals established
under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, as amended. In addition to the provisions
of § 10.1-2130 all grant agreements related to nutrients shall include: (i)
numerical concentrations on nutrient discharges to state waters designed to achieve
the nutrient reduction goals of the applicable tributary plan or, in the
absence of a completed tributary plan, numerical concentrations on nutrient
discharges designed, in the judgment of the Department, to achieve either the
Commonwealth's commitments under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, as amended, or local
water quality nutrient reduction needs, whichever is more protective of water
quality; (ii) enforceable provisions related to the maintenance of the
numerical concentrations that will allow for exceedences of no more than ten
percent and for exceedences caused by extraordinary conditions; and (iii)
recognition of the authority of the Commonwealth to make the Virginia Water
Facilities Revolving Fund (§ 62.1-224 et seq.) available to local governments
to fund their share of the cost of designing and installing biological nutrient
removal facilities or other nutrient removal technology based on financial need and
subject to availability of revolving loan funds, priority ranking and revolving
loan distribution criteria. At least fifty percent of the cost of the design
and installation of biological nutrient removal facilities or other nutrient
removal technology at publicly owned treatment works meeting the nutrient
reduction goal in an applicable tributary plan and incurred prior to the
execution of a grant agreement is eligible for reimbursement from the Fund
provided the grant is made pursuant to an executed agreement consistent with
the provisions of this chapter.
Subsequent to the implementation of the tributary plans, the Director may authorize disbursements from the Fund for any water quality restoration, protection and improvements related to point source pollution that are clearly demonstrated as likely to achieve measurable and specific water quality improvements including but not limited to cost effective technologies to reduce nutrient loads. Notwithstanding the previous provisions of this subsection, the Director may, at any time, authorize grants for technical assistance related to nutrient reduction.
§ 10.1-2132. Nonpoint source pollution funding; conditions for approval.
A. The Department of Conservation and Recreation shall be the lead state agency for determining the appropriateness of any grant related to nonpoint source pollution to be made from the Fund to restore, protect and improve the quality of state waters.
B. The Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation shall, subject to available funds and in coordination with the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, direct the State Treasurer to make Water Quality Improvement Grants in accordance with the guidelines established pursuant to § 10.1-2129. The Director shall manage the allocation of grants from the Fund to ensure the full funding of executed grant agreements.
C. Grant funding may be made available to local governments, soil and water
conservation districts and individuals who propose specific initiatives that
are clearly demonstrated as likely to achieve reductions in nonpoint source
pollution, including excess nutrients, to improve the quality of state waters.
Such projects may include, but are in no way limited to, the acquisition of
conservation easements related to the protection of water quality and stream
buffers; conservation planning and design assistance to develop nutrient
management plans for agricultural operations; equipment directly related to
reducing nonpoint source pollution and improving water quality; implementation
of cost-effective nutrient reduction practices; and reimbursement to local
governments for tax credits and other kinds of authorized local tax relief that
provides incentives for water quality improvement. The Director shall give
initial priority consideration to the distribution of grants from the Fund for
the purposes of implementing the tributary plans required by Article 2 (§
2.1-51.12:1 et seq.) of Chapter 5.1 of Title 2.1.projects, programs and
initiatives that will contribute to the achievement of the Commonwealth's commitments to
nutrient reduction under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, as amended. Until such
time as the tributary plans required by Article 2 (§ 2.1-51.12:1 et seq.) of
Chapter 5.1 of Title 2.1 are developed and implemented, the Director shall
distribute fifty percent of the nonpoint grant funding to their
implementationthat area of the Commonwealth in the Chesapeake Bay
watershed and fifty percent to areas of the remainder of the Commonwealth
not to be covered by the tributary plans, unless otherwise provided in the
general appropriation act.
§ 10.1-2134. Annual report by Directors of the Departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and Recreation.
The Directors of the Departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and
Recreation shall, by January 1 of each year, report to the Governor and the
General Assembly the amounts and recipients of grants made from the Virginia
Water Quality Improvement Fund and the specific and measurable pollution
reduction achievements to state waters anticipated as a result of each grant award,
together with the amounts of continued funding required for the coming fiscal
year under all fully executed grant agreements.