Virginia Code 10.1-2129: Agency coordination; conditions of grants.
A. If, in any fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 2005, there are appropriations to the Fund in addition to those made pursuant to subsection A of § 10.1-2128, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources shall distribute those moneys in the Fund provided from the 10 percent of the annual general fund revenue collections that are in excess of the official estimates in the general appropriation act, and the 10 percent of any unrestricted and uncommitted general fund balance at the close of each fiscal year whose reappropriation is not required in the general appropriation act, as follows:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 10.1-2129
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Fund: means the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund established by § Virginia Code 10.1-2127.1
- Local government: means any county, city, town, municipal corporation, authority, district, commission or political subdivision of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
- Nonpoint source pollution: means pollution of state waters washed from the land surface in a diffuse manner and not resulting from a discernible, defined or discrete conveyance. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
- Nutrient removal technology: means state-of-the-art nutrient removal technology, biological nutrient removal technology, or other nutrient removal technology. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- Publicly owned treatment works: means a publicly owned sewage collection system consisting of pipelines or conduits, pumping stations and force mains, and all other construction, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto, or any equipment, plant, treatment works, structure, machinery, apparatus, interest in land, or any combination of these, not including an onsite sewage system, that is used, operated, acquired, or constructed for the storage, collection, treatment, neutralization, stabilization, reduction, recycling, reclamation, separation, or disposal of wastewater, or for the final disposal of residues resulting from the treatment of sewage, including but not limited to: treatment or disposal plants; outfall sewers, interceptor sewers, and collector sewers; pumping and ventilating stations, facilities, and works; and other real or personal property and appurtenances incident to their development, use, or operation. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
- 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
- State waters: means all waters on the surface or under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdictions. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
- Water Quality Improvement Grants: means grants available from the Fund for projects of local governments, institutions of higher education, and individuals (i) to achieve nutrient reduction goals in regulations, permits, or the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan or (ii) to achieve other water quality restoration, protection or enhancement benefits. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
1. Seventy percent of the moneys shall be distributed to the Department of Conservation and Recreation and shall be administered by it for the sole purpose of implementing projects or best management practices that reduce nitrogen and phosphorus nonpoint source pollution, with a priority given to agricultural best management practices. In no single year shall more than 60 percent of the moneys be used for projects or practices exclusively within the Chesapeake Bay watershed; and
2. Thirty percent of the moneys shall be distributed to the Department of Environmental Quality, which shall use such moneys for making grants for the sole purpose of designing and installing nutrient removal technologies for publicly owned treatment works designated as significant dischargers or eligible nonsignificant dischargers. The moneys shall also be available for grants when the design and installation of nutrient removal technology utilizes the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act (§ 56-575.1 et seq.).
3. Except as otherwise provided in the Appropriation Act, in any fiscal year when moneys are not appropriated to the Fund in addition to those specified in subsection A of § 10.1-2128, or when moneys appropriated to the Fund in addition to those specified in subsection A of § 10.1-2128 are less than 40 percent of those specified in subsection A of § 10.1-2128, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, the State Forester, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Directors of the Departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and Recreation, and with the advice and guidance of the Board of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board, and the State Water Control Board, and following a public comment period of at least 30 days and a public hearing, shall allocate those moneys deposited in the Fund, but excluding any moneys deposited into the Virginia Natural Resources Commitment Fund established pursuant to § 10.1-2128.1, between point and nonpoint sources, both of which shall receive moneys in each such year.
B. 1. Except as may otherwise be specified in the general appropriation act, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, the State Forester, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the State Health Commissioner, and the Directors of the Departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and Recreation, and with the advice and guidance of the Board of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board, and the State Water Control Board, shall develop written guidelines that (i) specify eligibility requirements; (ii) govern the application for and the distribution and conditions of Water Quality Improvement Grants; (iii) list criteria for prioritizing funding requests; and (iv) define criteria and financial incentives for water reuse.
2. In developing the guidelines, the Secretary shall evaluate and consider, in addition to such other factors as may be appropriate to most effectively restore, protect and improve the quality of state waters: (i) specific practices and programs proposed in the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan, 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 process for development of guidelines pursuant to this subsection shall, at a minimum, include (a) use of an advisory committee composed of interested parties; (b) a 60-day public comment period on draft guidelines; (c) written responses to all comments received; and (d) notice of the availability of draft guidelines and final guidelines to all who request such notice.
3. In addition to those the Secretary deems advisable to most effectively restore, protect and improve the quality of state waters, the criteria for prioritizing funding requests shall include: (i) the pounds of total nitrogen and the pounds of total phosphorus reduced by the project; (ii) 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; (iii) documented water quality impairment; and (iv) the availability of other funding mechanisms. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection E of § 10.1-2131, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality may approve a local government point source grant application request for any single project that exceeds the authorized grant amount outlined in subsection E of § 10.1-2131. Whenever a local government applies for a grant that exceeds the authorized grant amount outlined in this chapter or when there is no stated limitation on the amount of the grant for which an application is made, 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.
1997, cc. 21, 625, 626; 1999, c. 509; 2005, cc. 41, 704, 707, 709; 2006, c. 236; 2008, cc. 643, 701; 2010, c. 684; 2011, c. 189; 2012, cc. 785, 819; 2015, c. 164; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 401.