A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Nutrient Offset Fund, hereafter referred to as “the Subfund,” which shall be a subfund of the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund and administered by the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. The Subfund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All amounts appropriated and such other moneys as may be made available to the Subfund from any other source, public or private, shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Subfund. Interest earned on moneys in the Subfund shall remain in the Subfund and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Subfund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Subfund. Moneys in the Subfund shall be used solely for the purposes stated in subsection B. Expenditures and disbursements from the Subfund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon written request of the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

B. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall use moneys in the Subfund only to purchase nutrient offsets that achieve equivalent point or nonpoint source reductions in the same tributary beyond those reductions already required by or funded under federal or state law. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality may enter into long-term contracts with producers of nutrient offsets to purchase such offsets using moneys from the Subfund. Priority shall be given to nutrient offsets produced from facilities that generate electricity from animal waste.

C. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall make nutrient offsets purchased pursuant to subsection B available for sale to owners or operators of new or expanded facilities pursuant to § 62.1-44.19:15, and to permitted facilities pursuant to § 62.1-44.19:18.

D. For the purposes of this section, a “nutrient offset” means a nutrient reduction certified by the Department of Environmental Quality as a load allocation, point source nitrogen credit, or point source phosphorus credit under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit Exchange Program (§ 62.1-44.19:12 et seq.).

History

2011, c. 524.