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2017 SESSION
17101510DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 10.1-2128.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 10.1-2128.2. Nutrient Offset Fund; purposes.
A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special
nonreverting fund to be known as the Nutrient Offset Fund,
hereafter referred to in
this section as "the Subfund," which shall be a
subfund of the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund and administered by the
Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. The Subfund shall be
established on the books of the Comptroller. All amounts appropriated and such
other moneys as may be made available to the Subfund from any other source,
public or private, shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the
Subfund. Interest earned on moneys in the Subfund shall remain in the Subfund
and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Subfund, including interest
thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund
but shall remain in the Subfund. Moneys in the Subfund shall be used solely for
the purposes stated in subsection B. Expenditures and disbursements from the
Subfund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the
Comptroller upon written request of the Director of the Department of
Environmental Quality.
B. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality
shall use moneys in the Subfund only to purchase acquire nutrient offsets credits
or allocations for point or
nonpoint sources that achieve equivalent point or nonpoint
source reductions in the same tributary beyond those reductions already
required by or funded under federal or state law or the
Watershed Implementation Plan prepared for the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum
Daily Load pursuant to § 2.2-218. The Director of the
Department of Environmental Quality may enter into long-term contracts with
producers of nutrient offsets credits to purchase such offsets credits
using moneys from the Subfund. Priority shall be
given to nutrient offsets produced from facilities that generate electricity
from animal waste. Credits in the Subfund
shall be listed in a registry maintained by the Department of
Environmental Quality.
C. The Department of Environmental Quality shall establish a procedure to govern the distribution of moneys from the Subfund that shall include criteria that address (i) the annualized cost per pound of the reduction, (ii) the reliability of the underlying technology or practice, (iii) the relative durability and permanence of the credits generated, and (iv) other such factors that the Department deems appropriate to ensure that the practices will achieve the necessary reduction in nutrients for the term of credit.
D. The
Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall make nutrient offsets credits purchased
acquired pursuant to subsection B available for sale to
owners or operators of new or expanded facilities pursuant to § 62.1-44.19:15,
and to permitted facilities pursuant to § 62.1-44.19:18. The
Director shall consider recommendations of the Virginia Economic Development
Partnership and the requirements of the State Water Control
Law (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq.) in
the sale of nutrient credits to new or
expanding private facilities.
D. E. For the
purposes of this section, a "nutrient offset credit" means a nutrient
reduction certified by the Department of Environmental Quality as a load
allocation, point or nonpoint
source nitrogen credit, or point or nonpoint
source phosphorus credit under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit
Exchange Program (§ 62.1-44.19:12 et seq.).