                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

NEW OR EXPANDED FACILITIES (§ 62.1-44.19:15)

A. An owner or operator of a new or expanded facility shall comply with the
applicable requirements of this section as a condition of the facility&#8217;s
coverage under the general permit.

   1. An owner or operator of a facility authorized by a Virginia Pollutant
   Discharge Elimination System permit first issued before July 1, 2005, that
   expands his facility to discharge 100,000 gallons or more per day, or an
   equivalent load directly into tidal waters, or 500,000 gallons or more per
   day, or an equivalent load, directly into nontidal waters shall demonstrate to
   the Department that he has acquired waste load allocations sufficient to
   offset any increase in his delivered total nitrogen and delivered total
   phosphorus loads resulting from any expansion beyond his waste load
   allocations or permitted design capacity as of July 1, 2005, and will install
   state-of-the-art nutrient removal technology at the time of the expansion.

   2. An owner or operator of a facility authorized by a Virginia Pollutant
   Discharge Elimination System permit first issued before July 1, 2005, that
   expands his facility to discharge 100,000 gallons or more per day up to and
   including 499,999 gallons per day, or an equivalent load, directly into
   nontidal waters, shall demonstrate to the Department that he has acquired
   waste load allocations sufficient to offset any increase in his delivered
   total nitrogen and delivered total phosphorus loads resulting from any
   expansion beyond his permitted capacity as of July 1, 2005, and will install,
   at a minimum, biological nutrient removal technology at the time of the
   expansion.

   3. An owner or operator of a facility authorized by a Virginia Pollutant
   Discharge Elimination System permit first issued before July 1, 2005, that
   expands his facility to discharge 40,000 gallons or more per day up to and
   including 99,999 gallons per day, or an equivalent load, directly into tidal
   or nontidal waters, shall demonstrate to the Department that he has acquired
   waste load allocations sufficient to offset any increase in his delivered
   total nitrogen and delivered total phosphorus loads resulting from any
   expansion beyond his permitted capacity as of July 1, 2005.

   4. An owner or operator of a facility authorized by a Virginia Pollutant
   Discharge Elimination System permit first issued on or after July 1, 2005, to
   discharge 40,000 gallons or more per day, or an equivalent load, shall
   demonstrate to the Department that he has acquired waste load allocations
   sufficient to offset his delivered total nitrogen and delivered total
   phosphorus loads, and will install (i) at a minimum, biological nutrient
   removal technology at any facility authorized to discharge up to and including
   99,999 gallons per day, or an equivalent load, directly into tidal and
   nontidal waters, or up to and including 499,999 gallons per day, or an
   equivalent load, to nontidal waters; and (ii) state-of-the-art nutrient
   removal technology at any facility authorized to discharge 100,000 gallons or
   more per day, or an equivalent load, directly into tidal waters, or 500,000
   gallons or more per day, or an equivalent load, directly into nontidal waters.

   5. An owner or operator of a facility treating domestic sewage authorized by a
   Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit with a discharge
   greater than 1,000 gallons per day up to and including 39,999 gallons per day
   that has not commenced the discharge of pollutants prior to January 1, 2011,
   shall demonstrate to the Department that he has acquired waste load
   allocations sufficient to offset his delivered total nitrogen and delivered
   total phosphorus loads prior to commencing the discharge, except when the
   facility is for short-term temporary use only or when treatment of domestic
   sewage is not the primary purpose of the facility.

B. Waste load allocations required by this section to offset new or increased
delivered total nitrogen and delivered total phosphorus loads shall be acquired
in accordance with this subsection.

   1. Such allocations may be acquired from one or a combination of the
   following:
   				a. Acquisition of all or a portion of the waste load allocations or point
   source nitrogen or point source phosphorus credits from one or more permitted
   facilities in the same tributary;
   				b. Acquisition of credits certified by the Board pursuant to &#xA7;
   62.1-44.19:20. Such best management practices shall achieve reductions beyond
   those already required by or funded under federal or state law, or the
   Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan, and shall be
   installed in the same tributary in which the new or expanded facility is
   located and included as conditions of the facility&#8217;s individual Virginia
   Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit;
   				c. Acquisition of allocations purchased through the Nutrient Offset Fund
   established pursuant to &#xA7; 10.1-2128.2;
   				d. Acquisition of allocations through such other means as may be approved
   by the Department on a case-by-case basis; or
   				e. Acquisition of credits or allocations through the implementation of
   best management practices on lands owned or controlled by, or under
   contractual obligation with, the new or expanded facility that achieve
   reductions greater than those currently required by or funded under federal or
   state law, or the Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan,
   subject to the approval by the Board in accordance with standards and
   procedures that are consistent with those established in &#xA7; 62.1-44.19:20.
   Any such best management practices shall be implemented on lands within the
   same tributary as the new or expanded facility, and any credits assigned by
   the Board based on those practices shall be subject to adjustment based on the
   relevant delivery factor, as defined in &#xA7; 62.1-44.19:13.

   2. Such allocations or credits shall be provided for a minimum period of five
   years with each registration under the general permit. This subdivision shall
   not preclude longer-term or permanent allocations, except that such
   allocations are subject to modification by the Board where necessary to
   conform to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

   3. The Board shall give priority to allocations or credits acquired in
   accordance with subdivisions 1 a, 1 b, and 1 d. The Board shall approve
   allocations acquired in accordance with subdivision 1 d only after the owner
   or operator has demonstrated that he has made a good faith effort to acquire
   sufficient allocations in accordance with subdivisions 1 a, 1 b, and 1 d and
   that such allocations are not reasonably available taking into account timing,
   cost, and other relevant factors.

   4. Notwithstanding the priority provisions in subdivision 3, the Board may
   grant a waste load allocation in accordance with subdivision 1 d to an owner
   or operator of a facility authorized by a Virginia Pollution Abatement permit
   to land apply domestic sewage if (i) the Virginia Pollution Abatement permit
   was issued before July 1, 2005; (ii) the waste load allocation does not exceed
   such facility&#8217;s permitted design capacity as of July 1, 2005; (iii) the
   waste treated by the existing facility is going to be treated and discharged
   pursuant to a Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for a new
   discharge; and (iv) the owner or operator installs state-of-the-art nutrient
   removal technology at such facility. Such facilities cannot generate credits
   or waste load allocations, based upon the removal of land application sites,
   that can be acquired by other permitted facilities to meet the requirements of
   this article.

C. Until such time as the Director finds that no allocations are reasonably
available in an individual tributary, the general permit shall provide for the
acquisition of allocations through payments into the Nutrient Offset Fund
established in &#xA7; 10.1-2128.2. Such payments shall be promptly applied by
the Department to achieve equivalent point or nonpoint source reductions in the
same tributary beyond those reductions already required by or funded under
federal or state law or the Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed
Implementation Plan. The general permit shall base the cost of each pound of
allocation on (i) the estimated cost of achieving a reduction of one pound of
nitrogen or phosphorus at the facility that is securing the allocation, or
comparable facility, for each pound of allocation acquired; or (ii) the average
cost of reducing two pounds of nitrogen or phosphorus from nonpoint sources in
the same tributary for each pound of allocation acquired, whichever is higher.
Upon each reissuance of the general permit, the Board may adjust the cost of
each pound of allocation based on current costs and cost estimates.

D. The acquisition of nutrient allocations or credits from animal
waste-to-energy or animal waste reduction facilities, or the acquisition of such
nutrient allocations or credits from entities acting on behalf of such
facilities, shall be considered point source allocations or credits for all
nutrient trading purposes and shall not be subject to any otherwise applicable
nonpoint source trading ratio if the best management practice being used to
generate such nutrient allocations or credits is a point source nutrient removal
technology. Point source nutrient removal technology shall include animal waste
gasification in which lab analysis of the animal waste reveals the concentration
of nutrients in the animal waste being fed into the gasifier, and the fate of
the nutrients during the animal waste gasification process, is known and
documented using studies such as air emissions tests and ash analyses.

HISTORY: 2005, cc. 708, 710; 2007, c. 27; 2010, c. 288; 2011, cc. 440, 524;
2012, cc. 748, 808; 2013, cc. 756, 793; 2016, cc. 137, 377.