Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:40: Information to be furnished.
The Board, the Department, or a locality serving as a VESMP authority may require every owner, including every applicant for a permit or land-disturbance approval, to furnish when requested such application materials, plans, specifications, and other pertinent information as may be necessary to determine the effect of his discharge on the quality of state waters, or such other information as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this article. The Board or Department also may require any locality that is a VESMP authority to furnish when requested any information as may be required to accomplish the purposes of this article. Any personal information shall not be disclosed except to an appropriate official of the Board, Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or VESMP authority or as may be authorized pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.). However, disclosure of records of the Department, the Board, or the VESMP authority relating to (i) active federal environmental enforcement actions that are considered confidential under federal law, (ii) enforcement strategies, including proposed sanctions for enforcement actions, and (iii) any secret formulae, secret processes, or secret methods other than effluent data used by any owner or under that owner’s direction is prohibited. Upon request, such enforcement records shall be disclosed after a proposed sanction resulting from the investigation has been determined by the Board or the locality serving as a VESMP authority. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the disclosure of records related to inspection reports, notices of violation, and documents detailing the nature of any land-disturbing activity that may have occurred, or similar documents.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:40
- Applicant: means any person submitting a soil erosion control and stormwater management plan to a VESMP authority, or a stormwater management plan to the Board when it is serving as a VSMP authority, for approval in order to obtain authorization to commence a land-disturbing activity. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Board: means the State Water Control Board. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
- Land-disturbance approval: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- land-disturbing activity: means a man-made change to the land surface that may result in soil erosion or has the potential to change its runoff characteristics, including construction activity such as the clearing, grading, excavating, or filling of land. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
- Owner: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- Permit: means a Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) permit issued by the Board pursuant to § Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction, including wetlands. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- VESMP: means a program established by a VESMP authority for the effective control of soil erosion and sediment deposition and the management of the quality and quantity of runoff resulting from land-disturbing activities to prevent the unreasonable degradation of properties, stream channels, waters, and other natural resources. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
- VESMP authority: means the Board or a locality approved by the Board to operate a Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:24
2004, c. 372, § 10.1-603.12:2; 2005, c. 102; 2012, cc. 785, 819; 2013, cc. 756, 793; 2016, cc. 68, 758.