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1997 SESSION

972176158
HOUSE BILL NO. 2246
Offered January 17, 1997
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 an article numbered 3.1, consisting of a section numbered 62.1-44.17:2, relating to the reduction of toxics in state waters.
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Patrons-- Connally, Abbitt, Christian, Deeds, Dillard, Grayson, Guest, Melvin, Murphy, Parrish, Plum, Puller, Scott and Thomas; Senators: Maxwell, Reasor, Ticer and Whipple
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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 the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 an article numbered 3.1, consisting of a section numbered 62.1-44.17:2, as follows:

Article 3.1.
Toxics Use Reduction.

§ 62.1-44.17:2. Toxics use reduction; goals established; reports required; use of mobile lab.

A. In order to carry out the Commonwealth's nondegradation policy as described in § 62.1-44.5, the Board, when implementing its programs, shall have a goal of reducing the use and discharge of toxics. The goals shall be a twenty percent reduction by the year 2002 and a forty percent reduction by the year 2010 and thereafter. The base year to be used in calculating the reduction shall be 1996 data contained in the Toxic Release Inventory.

B. The status of the Board's efforts to reduce the level of toxic substances in state waters shall be reported annually, no later than January 1, to the House Committees on Conservation and Natural Resources and Chesapeake and Its Tributaries, and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources. The initial report shall be submitted no later than January 1, 1998, and shall include data from the previous five years on the trends of the use, reduction and monitoring of toxics. The initial report and each subsequent annual report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:

1. Compliance data on permits that have toxics limits;

2. The number of new permits or reissued permits that have toxic limits and the location of each permitted facility;

3. The location and number of monitoring stations and the period of time that monitoring has occurred at each location;

4. A summary of pollution prevention activities for the reduction of toxics;

5. The sampling results from the monitoring stations for the previous year; and

6. The Board's plan for continued reduction of the use of toxics which shall include, but not be limited to, additional monitoring activities, a work plan for the pollution prevention program, and any pilot projects established for the use of innovative technologies to reduce the use of toxics.

C. The Department of Environmental Quality shall publish in March of each year the information it receives from industries that use toxics in a document known as the "Virginia's Toxic Release Inventory." The report shall be (i) organized by chemical, facility, standard industrial classification code, and facility location, and (ii) distributed to newspapers of general circulation and television and radio stations. The data included in the report shall have been collected no longer than two years previous to the time of the March publication date.