Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard eligible sources; zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities. Provides that, for the purposes of the renewable energy portfolio standard, eligible sources include zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities located in the Commonwealth.
Electric utilities; renewable portfolio standard program; zero-carbon electricity; accelerated renewable energy buyers. Classifies zero-carbon electricity generating facilities that are not otherwise renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program eligible sources and that are placed into service in the Commonwealth after July 1, 2030, as RPS eligible sources. The bill permits an accelerated renewable energy buyer to contract to obtain bundled capacity, energy, and renewable energy certificates from solar, wind, or zero-carbon electricity generation located within the PJM region and placed in commercial operation on or before January 1, 2015, if investments to increase the maximum thermal power output of such facility occurred after January 1, 2015, or if a financial agreement for procurement of energy and capacity was entered into with such facility after January 1, 2015, to prevent the early retirement or decommissioning of such facility due to financial constraints.
Consultation with federally recognized tribes; permits and reviews with potential impacts on environmental, cultural, and historic resources. Adds to the duties of the Ombudsman for Tribal Consultation requirements to (i) facilitate communication between federally recognized tribes and relevant state agencies and local governments to ensure an opportunity for meaningful and timely consultation on environmental, cultural, and historical permits and reviews; (ii) assist the Department of Transportation in developing consultation policies; (iii) make recommendations to the Governor on the basis of communications with federally recognized tribes about (a) circumstances under which tribal consent should be required for issuance of certain permits and (b) additional agencies that should develop policies and procedures to ensure meaningful, timely, and appropriate consultation with federally recognized tribes; (iv) provide training at least once a year to certain state agency personnel on issues of concern to the federally recognized tribes to support effective communication, collaboration, and positive government-to-government relations between the Commonwealth and the federally recognized tribes; and (v) submit an annual report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on the activities undertaken to implement such provisions and the issues that have arisen in that pursuit. The bill also requires the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Historic Resources, Department of Transportation, and Marine Resources Commission to engage in consultation with federally recognized tribes on certain issues. During such consultation, the burden is on the agency to show that it has made a good faith effort to elicit meaningful and timely feedback, including formal communication between agency employees and the federally recognized tribe. When a burial permit will result in the disturbance of a burial site of an individual that has a cultural affiliation with a particular federally recognized tribe, the bill requires the Department of Historic Resources to acquire the consent of such federally recognized tribe before issuing a permit for the archaeological excavation of human remains. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Updating Virginia Law to Reflect Federal Recognition of Virginia Tribes.
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.
Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund. Increases from $100 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on brownfields to $200 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on brownfields the grant amount a project developer can receive from the Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 2 of a chapter numbered 14.4, consisting of sections numbered 10.1-1465.1 through 10.1-1465.15, relating to establishing the Virginia Recycling Development Center and the Virginia Recycling Infrastructure Fund; supporting statewide recycling infrastructure; incentivizing voluntary stewardship programs; authorizing public-private partnerships; and addressing priority materials including waste tires, mattresses, and bulky waste.
Virginia Conservation Easement Act; definitions; federally recognized tribes. Provides that a federally recognized tribe, as defined in the bill, can be a conservation easement holder and that such a tribe is not bound by the same restrictions on the location of a principal office or the duration of existence that are placed on other types of easement holders. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Updating Virginia Law to Reflect Federal Recognition of Virginia Tribes.
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.
