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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2011 SESSION
Chairman: Patricia S. Ticer
Staff: Ellen Porter, Martin Farber
Date of Meeting: February 7, 2011
Time and Place: 8:15 a.m., Senate Room B, General Assembly Building
****THIS IS A TIME CHANGE FOR THIS MEETING ONLY***
Patron: Petersen
Humane investigators. Allows the appointment of new humane investigators. Currently, existing humane investigators may be reappointed, but the program is no longer open to new participants. The administrative entity that oversees animal control will be required to (i) supervise humane investigators and (ii) maintain and annually update a list of persons eligible for appointment as humane investigators. Circuit courts that appoint a humane investigator must notify the administrative entity that oversees animal control in the locality where the humane investigator serves if a humane investigator's term expires and he is not appointed to a succeeding term before or within 30 days. The administrative entity that oversees animal control in the locality where the humane investigator was appointed may suspend, discharge or restrict the performance of humane investigator appointees for good cause under the same administrative process used for disciplinary actions against animal control officers.
Patron: Stuart
Renewable portfolio standards; forest products. Removes the requirement that utilities participating in a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program collectively use no more than 1.5 million tons of forest products such as wood chips, bark, and sawdust each year towards meeting RPS goals.
Patron: McDougle
Inspection of food establishments; exception for private homes. Adds certain pickles and other processed vegetables to the foods that may be prepared in private homes and sold to individuals at farmers markets or the preparer's home without an inspection by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In order for the exemption to apply, the pickles or other processed vegetables must be grown on property owned or leased by the processor and have a pH value of 4.6 or lower after the completion of the recipe for such product. Currently, the exemption from inspection applies only to certain candies, jams, and jellies and baked goods that do not need refrigeration.
Patron: Puckett
Coal surface mining operations; national pollutant discharge elimination system permits. Clarifies that the authority to issue pollutant discharge elimination system permits for coal surface mining operations has been delegated by the State Water Control Board to the Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. The Director shall examine all available and relevant data to determine whether a discharge may cause or contribute to an in-stream excursion above the narrative or numeric criteria of a water quality standard. Any total maximum daily load (TMDL) that has been established for the receiving body of water shall control the determination. If no TMDL has been established, the Director may consider biological monitoring, chemical monitoring, and whole effluent toxicity testing.
Patron: Puckett
Care of agricultural animals by owner; penalty. Provides standards of care specifically for agricultural animals that ensure accommodation for customary farming activities. The bill also clarifies certain procedures for the seizure and impoundment of agricultural animals.
Patron: Stuart
Wastewater treatment. Requires the State Water Control Board, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality, to develop policies by July 1, 2020, aimed at eliminating wastewater discharges from sewage treatment facilities.
Patron: McDougle
Definition of impoundment structures. Changes the definition of what constitutes an impoundment structure for the purpose of regulating the operation of such dams.
Patron: Hanger
Nonpoint nutrient offsets. Establishes priorities to be used by permit issuing authorities when considering off-site options for nonpoint nutrient offsets. The first priority of the four priority options will be nonpoint nutrient offsets generated by private entities. The bill also provides the three conditions under which an off-site option can be granted. Permit-issuing authorities are to allow the full or partial substitution of nonpoint nutrient offsets for existing on-site nutrient control when the offsets will compensate for 10 or fewer pounds of the annual phosphorous requirement associated with the land-disturbing activity or the existing on-site controls are not functioning as anticipated and the use of the offset will make up the deficiency. The bill requires the acquisition of nonpoint nutrient offsets in compliance actions to compensate for nutrient control deficiencies when nutrient control deficiencies occur during the period of noncompliance and for permanent deficiencies.
Patron: Hanger
Water Quality Improvement Fund; nutrient offsets. Creates the Nutrient Offset Fund as a subfund of the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund to be administered by the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality for the purchase of nutrient reductions certified under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit Exchange Program. Using moneys from the subfund, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality may enter into long-term contracts with producers of nutrient offsets to purchase such offsets. Priority shall be given to nutrient offsets produced from facilities that generate electricity from animal waste. The nutrient offsets purchased with moneys from the subfund will be available for sale to owners or operators of new or expanded facilities required to offset nutrient loads through the watershed general permit.
Patron: Hanger
Point source nutrient trading. Exempts from the "two-for-one" rule point source nutrient removal technologies such as manure gasifiers that are being used by nonpoint sources (a farm) to generate and sell nutrient allocation offsets. The current Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit Exchange Program requires that two pounds of a nutrient be purchased for each pound to be offset when the allocation is purchased from a nonpoint source.
Patron: McEachin
Department of Environmental Quality; permit compliance; civil penalty procedures. Increases the limit of a civil penalty issued by a special order of the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality from $10,000 to $32,500. The Department may issue a civil penalty of not more than $15,000 after providing reasonable notice of the civil penalty in writing and allowing for an informal fact finding proceeding upon request. The legislation also requires that the Board or the Director, prior to reviewing an application for a permit, shall require an applicant to demonstrate that he is in substantial compliance with local ordinances and with federal and state laws, regulations, and rules, including permits and authorizations, for the protection of the environment in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Norment
Aquaculture; Virginia Marine Resources Commission; authority of local governments. Expands the definition of agricultural production activities in the "Right to Farm Act" to include the practice of aquaculture. In areas zoned as agricultural or silvicultural, no special use permit shall be required for such activities. Localities are restricted from regulating the aquaculture production activities of riparian landowners on their own land and piers. Those piers placed for noncommercial purposes and exempt from regulation from the Marine Resources Commission may retain such status even if the private pier is used by its owner for certain aquaculture activities.
Patron: Vogel
Definition of impounding structure. Exempts dams that are operated primarily for agricultural preservation and conservation purposes and that (i) are less than 30 feet in height or (ii) create a maximum impoundment capacity smaller than 100 acre-feet from the definition of impounding structure. Currently, the exemption applies to dams operated primarily for agricultural purposes that are less than 25 feet in height and that create a maximum impoundment capacity smaller than 100 acre-feet. The bill also contains technical amendments.
Patron: Obenshain
Plan for impaired waters. Requires that the plan developed and implemented to restore impaired waters be controlling unless it is amended or withdrawn by the State Water Control Board.
Patron: Hanger
Soil and Water Conservation Board; dam safety. Requires owners of dams who submit annual certifications relating to dam compliance to do so each year by January 15. Dam owners who fail to submit certifications in a timely fashion shall not enjoy the presumption that the dam is deemed to be in compliance with the spillway requirements of the Board's Impounding Structure Regulations. Dam owners must also make the same certifications available, upon request and within five business days, to any person. Dam owners who receive money for a dam rehabilitation project for which the state is serving as the nonfederal sponsor under a Project Partnership Agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be required to convey a conservation easement in such land.