Virginia Code 33.2-247: Wetlands mitigation banking.
A. For the purposes of this section, “river watershed” means the Potomac River Basin, Shenandoah River Basin, James River Basin, Rappahannock River Basin, Roanoke and Yadkin Rivers Basin, Chowan River Basin (including the Dismal Swamp and Albemarle Sound), Tennessee River Basin, Big Sandy River Basin, Chesapeake Bay and its Small Coastal Basins, Atlantic Ocean, York River Basin, and New River Basin.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 33.2-247
- Commissioner of Highways: means the individual who serves as the chief executive officer of the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
- Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- State: includes District of Columbia;
(f) "Transit facilities" means all real and personal property located in the Zone, necessary or useful in rendering transit service between points within the Zone, by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel, including, without limitation, tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine and air transportation, stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking and all equipment, fixtures, buildings and structures and services incidental to or required in connection with the performance of transit service;
(g) "Transit services" means the transportation of persons and their packages and baggage by means of transit facilities between points within the Zone including the transportation of newspapers, express and mail between such points, and charter service which originates within the Zone but does not include taxicab service or individual-ticket-sales sightseeing operations;
(h) "Transit Zone" or "Zone" means the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone created and described in Section 3 as well as any additional area that may be added pursuant to Section 83(a) of this Compact; and
(i) "WMATC" means Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. See Virginia Code 33.2-3100
B. When authorization is required by federal or state law for any project affecting wetlands and such authorization is conditioned upon compensatory mitigation for adverse impacts to wetlands, the Commissioner of Highways is authorized to expend funds for the purchase of, or is authorized to use, credits from any wetlands mitigation bank, including any owned by the Department of Transportation, that has been approved and is operating in accordance with applicable federal and state guidance, laws, or regulations for the establishment, use, and operation of mitigation banks as long as (i) the bank is in the same fourth order subbasin, as defined by the hydrologic unit boundaries of the National Watershed Boundary Dataset or by the hydrologic unit system or dataset utilized and depicted or described in the bank’s approved mitigation banking instrument, as the impacted site, or in an adjacent subbasin within the same river watershed as the impacted site, or it meets all the conditions found in clauses (a) through (d) and either clause (e) or (f); (ii) the bank is ecologically preferable to practicable on-site and off-site individual mitigation options, as defined by federal wetland regulations; and (iii) the banking instrument, if approved after July 1, 1996, has been approved by a process that included public review and comment. When the bank is not located in the same subbasin or adjacent subbasin within the same river watershed as the impacted site, the purchase or use of credits shall not be allowed unless the Commissioner of Highways demonstrates to the satisfaction of the agency requiring compensatory mitigation that (a) the impacts will occur as a result of a Department of Transportation linear project; (b) there is no practical same river watershed mitigation alternative; (c) the impacts are less than one acre in a single and complete project within a subbasin; (d) there is no significant harm to water quality or fish and wildlife resources within the river watershed of the impacted site; and either (e) impacts within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are mitigated within the Chesapeake Bay watershed as close as possible to the impacted site or (f) impacts within subbasins 02080108, 02080208, and 03010205, as defined by the National Watershed Boundary Dataset, are mitigated in-kind within those subbasins, as close as possible to the impacted site. After July 1, 2002, the provisions of clause (f) shall apply only to impacts within subdivisions of the listed subbasins where overlapping watersheds exist, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, provided the Department of Environmental Quality has made such a determination by that date. For the purposes of this subsection, the hydrologic unit boundaries of the National Watershed Boundary Dataset or other hydrologic unit system may be adjusted by the Department of Environmental Quality to reflect site-specific geographic or hydrologic information provided by the bank sponsor.
C. Notwithstanding any provision of this section restricting the location of the source of credits, the Commissioner of Highways may be permitted to purchase or use credits from a tidal wetland mitigation bank located in an adjacent river watershed when such bank contains the same plant community type and salinity regime as the impacted wetlands, which shall be the preferred form of compensation. This subsection shall apply only (i) to tidal wetland mitigation banks with a polyhaline salinity regime located in subbasins 02080102, 02080107, 02080108, and 02080208 and (ii) when a tidal wetland mitigation bank with the same plant community type and salinity regime as the impacted wetlands is not available in the same river watershed as the impacted wetland.
1996, c. 736, § 33.1-223.2:1; 1999, c. 8; 2011, c. 253; 2014, cc. 332, 805; 2023, c. 245.