Environment

Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund; reclaimed water usage. Requires data center operators applying for grant payments from the Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund to utilize reclaimed water, defined in the bill, for water-dependent cooling processes at data center and cloud computing cluster operations facilities. The bill gradually increases the reclaimed water utilization requirement at such facilities from 60 percent of all water-dependent cooling processes beginning on July 1, 2027, to 100 percent on and after July 1, 2031.

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act established; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Creates a data center land preservation tax on and after January 1, 2027, in an amount equal to $3 per square foot of each data center facility footprint, as defined in the bill, and directs no less than $250 million of revenues from the tax to be distributed for various land protection and preservation purposes, including into the Virginia Tribal Commitment Fund, as created in the bill. The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science; Atlantic Menhaden Research Fund established; report. Establishes the Atlantic Menhaden Research Fund to be used by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), in collaboration with Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and relevant stakeholders, to produce research relating to Atlantic menhaden necessary to inform a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful harvest limit for Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and an annual report summarizing such research. VIMS is directed to annually report its progress, findings, recommendations, and a proposal for expenditures and disbursements from the Fund for the following year to the Chairs of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, the Ecological Reference Point Work Group of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the Menhaden Management Advisory Committee of VMRC no later than October 1 of each year.

SB 829 is a legislative bill that addresses real property tax bill disclosure requirements and resource protection areas. The bill directly affects property owners and local governments by mandating specific information be included in property tax statements. Key provisions require clearer disclosure of tax assessments and establish guidelines for protecting designated resource areas. The legislation aims to improve transparency in property tax billing while maintaining protections for environmentally significant lands. This bill is currently under review by the Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Electric utilities; construction and development of renewable energy facilities; powers of State Air Pollution Control Board; powers of State Corporation Commission. Repeals provisions (i) requiring the State Air Pollution Control Board to adopt regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from any electricity generating unit in the Commonwealth and authorizing the Board to establish an auction program for energy allowances; (ii) prohibiting the State Corporation Commission from approving any new utility-owned generation facilities that emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of energy generation under certain circumstances; (iii) declaring that statutory allowances for energy derived from sunlight, onshore wind, offshore wind, and storage facilities are in the public interest; and (iv) relating to the development of solar and wind generation and energy storage capacity, development of offshore wind capacity, and generation of electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources. The bill provides that planning and development activities for new nuclear generation facilities are in the public interest.