Virginia Code 10.1-1410: Financial responsibility for abandoned facilities; penalties.
A. The Board shall promulgate regulations which ensure that if a facility for the disposal, transfer, or treatment of solid waste is abandoned, the costs associated with protecting the public health and safety from the consequences of such abandonment may be recovered from the person abandoning the facility. A facility that receives solid waste from a ship, barge or other vessel and is regulated under § 10.1-1454.1 shall be considered a transfer facility for the purposes of this subsection.
Attorney's Note
Under the Virginia Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class 4 felony | 2 to 10 years | up to $100,000 |
Terms Used In Virginia Code 10.1-1410
- Board: means the Virginia Waste Management Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
- Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Director: means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, municipal corporation, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, or community activities, but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage; (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges that are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board; (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; or (iv) post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are (a) processed at an advanced recycling facility or (b) held at or held for the purpose of conversion at such advanced recycling facility prior to conversion. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Solid waste management facility: means a site used for planned treating, long-term storage, or disposing of solid waste. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
- Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any waste to neutralize it or to render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery or storage, or reduced in volume. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Waste: means any solid, hazardous, or radioactive waste as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
- Waste management: means the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of waste or resource recovery. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
B. The regulations may include provisions for bonding, the creation of a trust fund to be maintained within the Department, self-insurance, other forms of commercial insurance, or such other mechanism as the Department may deem appropriate. Regulations governing the amount thereof shall take into consideration the potential for contamination and injury by the solid waste, the cost of disposal of the solid waste and the cost of restoring the facility to a safe condition. Any bonding requirements shall include a provision authorizing the use of personal bonds or other similar surety deemed sufficient to provide the protections specified in subsection A upon a finding by the Director that commercial insurance or surety bond cannot be obtained in the voluntary market due to circumstances beyond the control of the permit holder. Any commercial insurance or surety obtained in the voluntary market shall be written by an insurer licensed pursuant to Chapter 10 of Title 38.2.
C. No state governmental agency shall be required to comply with such regulations.
D. Forfeiture of any financial obligation imposed pursuant to this section shall not relieve any holder of a permit issued pursuant to the provisions of this article of any other legal obligations for the consequences of abandonment of any facility.
E. Any funds forfeited prior to July 1, 1995, pursuant to this section and the regulations of the Board shall be paid over to the county, city or town in which the abandoned facility is located. The county, city or town in which the facility is located shall expend forfeited funds as necessary to restore and maintain the facility in a safe condition.
F. Any funds forfeited on or after July 1, 1995, pursuant to this section and the regulations of the Board shall be paid over to the Director. The Director shall then expend forfeited funds as necessary solely to restore and maintain the facility in a safe condition. Nothing in this section shall require the Director to expend funds from any other source to carry out the activities contemplated under this subsection.
G. Any person who knowingly and willfully abandons a solid waste management facility without proper closure or without providing adequate financial assurance instruments for such closure shall, if such failure to close results in a significant harm or an imminent and substantial threat of significant harm to human health or the environment, be liable to the Commonwealth and any political subdivision for the costs incurred in abating, controlling, preventing, removing, or containing such harm or threat.
Any person who knowingly and willfully abandons a solid waste management facility without proper closure or without providing adequate financial assurance instruments for such closure shall, if such failure to close results in a significant harm or an imminent and substantial threat of significant harm to human health or the environment, be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
1986, c. 492, § 10-273; 1987, cc. 258, 291; 1988, c. 891; 1991, c. 702; 1993, c. 837; 1995, c. 739; 2000, cc. 137, 138.