                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CLOSURE OF CERTAIN COAL COMBUSTION RESIDUALS UNITS; GILES AND RUSSELL COUNTIES
(§ 10.1-1402.04)

A. For the purposes of this section:
			&#8220;Carrying cost&#8221; means the cost associated with financing
expenditures incurred but not yet recovered from the electric utility&#8217;s
customers and shall be calculated by applying the electric utility&#8217;s
weighted average cost of debt and equity capital, as determined by the State
Corporation Commission, with no additional margin or profit, to any unrecovered
balances.
			&#8220;CCR landfill&#8221; means an area of land or an excavation that
receives CCR and is not a surface impoundment, underground injection well, salt
dome formation, salt bed formation, underground or surface coal mine, or cave
and that is owned or operated by an electric utility.
			&#8220;CCR surface impoundment&#8221; means a natural topographic depression,
man-made excavation, or diked area that (i) is designed to hold an accumulation
of CCR and liquids; (ii) treats, stores, or disposes of CCR; and (iii) is owned
or operated by an electric utility.
			&#8220;CCR unit&#8221; means any CCR landfill, CCR surface impoundment,
lateral expansion of a CCR unit, or combination of two or more such units that
is owned by an electric utility. Notwithstanding the provisions of 40 C.F.R.
Part 257, &#8220;CCR unit&#8221; also includes any CCR below the unit boundary
of the CCR landfill or CCR surface impoundment.
			&#8220;Coal combustion residuals&#8221; or &#8220;CCR&#8221; means fly ash,
bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization materials generated from
burning coal for the purpose of generating electricity by an electric utility.
			&#8220;Commission&#8221; means the State Corporation Commission.
			&#8220;Encapsulated beneficial use&#8221; means a beneficial use of CCR that
binds the CCR into a solid matrix and minimizes its mobilization into the
surrounding environment.
			The definitions in this subsection shall be interpreted in a manner
consistent with 40 C.F.R. Part 257, except as expressly provided in this
section.

B. The owner or operator of any CCR unit located in Giles County or Russell
County at the Glen Lyn Plant and the Clinch River Plant shall, if all CCR units
at such plant ceased receiving CCR and submitted notification of completion of a
final cap to the Department prior to January 1, 2019, complete post-closure care
and any required corrective action of such unit. If all CCR units at such plant
have not submitted notification of completion of a final cap to the Department
prior to January 1, 2019, the owner or operator shall close all CCR units at
such plant by (i) removing all of the CCR in accordance with applicable
standards established by Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81)
and (ii) either (a) beneficially reusing all such CCR in a recycling process for
encapsulated beneficial use or (b) disposing of the CCR in a permitted landfill
on the property upon which the CCR unit is located, adjacent to the property
upon which the CCR unit is located, or off of the property on which the CCR unit
is located, that includes, at a minimum, a composite liner and leachate
collection system that meets or exceeds the federal Criteria for Municipal Solid
Waste Landfills pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Part 258. The owner or operator shall
beneficially reuse CCR removed from its CCR unit if beneficial use of such
removed CCR is anticipated to reduce costs incurred under this section.

C. The owner or operator shall complete the closure of any such CCR unit
required by this section no later than 15 years after initiating the excavation
process at that CCR unit. During the closure process, the owner or operator
shall, at its expense, offer to provide a connection to a municipal water
supply, or where such connection is not feasible provide water testing, for any
residence within one-half mile of the CCR unit.

D. Where closure pursuant to this section requires that CCR that has been
beneficially reused be removed off-site, the owner or operator shall develop a
transportation plan in consultation with any county, city, or town in which the
CCR units are located and any county, city, or town within two miles of the CCR
units that minimizes the impact of any transport of CCR on adjacent property
owners and surrounding communities. The transportation plan shall include (i)
alternative transportation options to be utilized, including rail and barge
transport, if feasible, in combination with other transportation methods
necessary to meet the closure timeframe established in subsection C and (ii)
plans for any transportation by truck, including the frequency of truck travel,
the route of truck travel, and measures to control noise, traffic impact,
safety, and fugitive dust caused by such truck travel. Once such transportation
plan is completed, the owner or operator shall post it on a publicly accessible
website. The owner or operator shall provide notice of the availability of the
plan to the Department and the chief administrative officers of the consulting
localities and shall publish such notice once in a newspaper of general
circulation in such locality.

E. The owner or operator of any CCR unit subject to the provisions of subsection
B shall accept and review proposals for the encapsulated beneficial use of CCR
pursuant to the provisions of subsection B every four years beginning July 1,
2023. Any entity submitting such a proposal shall provide information from which
the owner or operator can determine (i) the amount of CCR that will be utilized
for encapsulated beneficial use; (ii) the cost of the proposed beneficial use of
such CCR; and (iii) the guaranteed timeframe in which the CCR will be utilized.

F. In conducting closure activities described in subsection B, the owner or
operator shall (i) identify options for utilizing local workers; (ii) consult
with the Commonwealth&#8217;s Chief Workforce Development Officer on
opportunities to advance the Commonwealth&#8217;s workforce goals, including
furtherance of apprenticeship and other workforce training programs to develop
the local workforce; and (iii) give priority to the hiring of local workers.

G. No later than October 1, 2023, and no less frequently than every two years
thereafter until closure of or corrective action at all of its CCR units is
complete, the owner or operator of any CCR unit subject to the provisions of
subsection B shall compile the following two reports:

   1. A report describing the owner&#8217;s or operator&#8217;s closure plan for
   all such CCR units; the closure progress to date, both per unit and in total;
   a detailed accounting of the amounts of CCR that have been and are expected to
   be beneficially reused from such units, both per unit and in total; a detailed
   accounting of the amounts of CCR that have been and are expected to be
   landfilled from such units, both per unit and in total; a detailed accounting
   of the utilization of transportation options and a transportation plan as
   required by subsection D; and a discussion of groundwater and surface water
   monitoring results and any corrective actions or other measures taken to
   address such results as closure is being completed.

   2. A report that contains the proposals and analysis for proposals required by
   subsection E.
   				The owner or operator shall post each such report on a publicly accessible
   website and shall submit each such report to the Governor, the Secretary of
   Natural and Historic Resources, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on
   Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Chairman of the House
   Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, the Chairman of
   the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Chairman of the House
   Committee on Labor and Commerce, and the Director.

H. All costs associated with closure by removal of a CCR unit or encapsulated
beneficial use of CCR material in accordance with subsection B shall be
recoverable through a rate adjustment clause authorized by the Commission under
the provisions of subdivision A 5 e of &#xA7; 56-585.1, provided that (i) when
determining the reasonableness of such costs the Commission shall not consider
closure in place of the CCR unit as an option; (ii) the annual revenue
requirement recoverable through a rate adjustment clause authorized under this
section, exclusive of any other rate adjustment clauses approved by the
Commission under the provisions of subdivision A 5 e of &#xA7; 56-585.1, shall
not exceed $40 million on a Virginia jurisdictional basis for the Commonwealth
in any 12-month period, provided that any under-recovery amount of revenue
requirements incurred in excess of $40 million in a given 12-month period,
limited to the under-recovery amount and the carrying cost, shall be deferred
and recovered through the rate adjustment clause over up to three succeeding
12-month periods without regard to this limitation, and with the length of the
amortization period being determined by the Commission; (iii) costs may begin
accruing on July 1, 2020, but no approved rate adjustment clause charges shall
be included in customer bills until July 1, 2022; (iv) any such costs shall be
allocated to all customers of the utility in the Commonwealth as a
non-bypassable charge, irrespective of the generation supplier of any such
customer; and (v) any such costs that are allocated to the utility&#8217;s
system customers outside of the Commonwealth that are not actually recovered
from such customers shall be included for cost recovery from jurisdictional
customers in the Commonwealth through the rate adjustment clause.

I. Any electric public utility subject to the requirements of this section may,
without regard for whether it has petitioned for any rate adjustment clause
pursuant to subdivision A 5 e of &#xA7; 56-585.1, petition the Commission for
approval of a plan for CCR unit closure at any or all of its CCR unit sites
listed in subsection B. Any such plan shall take into account site-specific
conditions and shall include proposals to beneficially reuse CCR from the sites
if beneficial use is anticipated to reduce the costs allocated to customers. The
Commission shall issue its final order with regard to any such petition within
six months of its filing, and in doing so shall determine whether the
utility&#8217;s plan for CCR unit closure, and the projected costs associated
therewith, are reasonable and prudent, taking into account that closure in place
of any CCR unit is not to be considered as an option. The Commission shall not
consider plans that do not comply with subsection B.

J. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require additional beneficial
reuse of CCR at any active coal-fired electric generation facility if such
additional beneficial reuse results in a net increase in truck traffic on the
public roads of the locality in which the facility is located as compared with
such traffic during calendar year 2019.

K. The Commonwealth shall not authorize any cost recovery by an owner or
operator subject to the provisions of this section for any fines or civil
penalties resulting from violations of federal and state law or regulation.

HISTORY: 2020, c. 563; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 401.