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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>86144</law_id><section_number>10.1-1428</section_number><catch_line>Financial responsibility for abandoned facilities; penalties</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>10.1-1309.1</reference><reference>10.1-1406.1</reference><reference>62.1-44.15:1.1</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="10.1">Conservation</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Activities Administered by Other Entities</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="14">Virginia Waste Management Act</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="4">Hazardous Waste Management</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> The <span class="dictionary">Board</span> shall promulgate regulations which ensure that, if a facility in which <span class="dictionary">hazardous waste</span> is stored, treated, or disposed is closed or abandoned, the costs associated with protecting the public health and safety from the consequences of such abandonment may be recovered from the <span class="dictionary">person</span> abandoning the facility. <a id="paragraph-308560" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> Such regulations may include bonding requirements, the creation of a trust fund to be maintained within the <span class="dictionary">Department</span>, self-insurance, other forms of commercial insurance, or other mechanisms that the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> deems appropriate. Regulations governing the amount thereof shall take into consideration the potential for contamination and injury by the <span class="dictionary">hazardous waste</span>, the cost of <span class="dictionary">disposal</span> of the <span class="dictionary">hazardous waste</span> and the cost of restoring the facility to a safe condition. <a id="paragraph-308561" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> No state agency shall be required to comply with such regulations. <a id="paragraph-308562" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> Forfeiture of any financial obligation imposed pursuant to this section shall not relieve any holder of a permit issued pursuant to this article of any other legal obligations for the consequences of abandonment of any facility. <a id="paragraph-308563" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="E"><p><span class="prefix-number">E.</span> Any funds forfeited pursuant to this section and the regulations of the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> shall be paid over to the <span class="dictionary">Director</span>, who shall then expend the forfeited funds as necessary to restore and maintain the facility in a safe condition. Nothing in this section shall require the <span class="dictionary">Director</span> to expend funds from any other source to carry out the activities contemplated under this section. <a id="paragraph-308564" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#E"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="F"><p><span class="prefix-number">F.</span> Any <span class="dictionary">person</span> who knowingly and willfully abandons a hazardous <span class="dictionary">waste management</span> facility without proper closure or without providing adequate financial assurance instruments for such closure shall, if such failure to close results in a significant harm or an imminent and substantial threat of significant harm to human health or the environment, be liable to the Commonwealth and any political subdivision for the costs incurred in abating, controlling, preventing, removing, or containing such harm or threat.
			Any <span class="dictionary">person</span> who knowingly and willfully abandons a hazardous <span class="dictionary">waste management</span> facility without proper closure or without providing adequate financial assurance instruments for such closure shall, if such failure to close results in a significant harm or an imminent and substantial threat of significant harm to human health or the environment, be guilty of a Class 4 <span class="dictionary">felony</span>. <a id="paragraph-308565" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/10.1-1428/#F"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1986, c. 492, &#xA7; 10-281; 1988, c. 891; 1991, c. 702; 2005, c. 180.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
