By RUSTY DENNEN
Much of this year’s crop of “green” bills wending their way through the General Assembly focus on perennial staples: protecting water and air quality, preserving open space, investing in clean energy and seeking more environment-friendly transportation solutions.
“We’ve had some progress and some setbacks,” Nathan Lott, executive director of the Virginia Conservation Network, said Monday about legislators’ work so far. The 60-day session began Jan. 11 and ends March 10.
In December, the network of about 125 environmental, preservation and community organizations put out its legislative agenda.
High on its list of priorities was for lawmakers to continue a nearly 30-year moratorium on uranium mining and milling, in response to plans by Virginia Uranium Inc. in Pittsylvania County.
The ban will continue, for now: Earlier this month, Gov. Bob McDonnell said the moratorium shouldn’t be lifted without more study. Also, McDonnell signed an executive order directing development of regulations for mining and processing the radioactive mineral.
That didn’t sit well with VCN and other groups opposed to lifting the ban. The Roanoke River Basin Association, for example, called the decision “premature and fiscally imprudent.”
Lott said conservationists “have got our work cut out for us” on the uranium issue, in light of McDonnell’s order. “But, for us, it’s a vindication of a lot of work over the past year” in getting the word out about the proposal for the Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania.
Virginia Uranium says the project can be done in a safe and environmentally responsible way, while some environmental groups fear it would pollute downstream drinking water supplies and create a mountain of toxic waste requiring perpetual monitoring.
With uranium off the table for now, VCN continues to push for other items on its wish list. For example, it supports bills in the House and Senate that would continue upgrades of sewage treatment plants. The measures would authorize the Virginia Public Building Authority to issue an additional $300 million for nutrient removal technology in eligible plants, to comply with ongoing Chesapeake Bay cleanup plans. The original bond issue was in 2007.
“There’s a backlog, in terms of demand” for upgrades, Lott said. There’s no additional money in the governor’s proposed biennial budget for that purpose.
Another bay-related measure the network opposed was killed last week by a House subcommittee.
The resolution would have instructed Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to consider challenging the constitutionality of the “pollution diet” that Virginia and other bay states will have to follow to meet federal cleanup thresholds.
The diet, known as the total maximum daily load, or TMDL, calls for a 25 percent cut in bay nitrogen and phosphorus, and at least a 16 percent reduction in sediment to restore the estuary and its tributaries by 2025.
On another topic, VCN opposes efforts to redirect general fund revenues from education and natural resources programs to transportation projects.
“We want to stop runaway road spending in a way that encourages better development of green space and farmland,” Lott said.
Incentives for clean energy are another VCN priority.
It wants the General Assembly to establish mandatory renewable portfolio standards to recognize clean-energy benefits, and to provide incentives for investments in solar energy.
“We came into this year knowing it was a multiyear effort, and that’s still very much the case,” Lott said.
For more on VCN’s legislative goals, http://vcnva.org/anx/ass/library/66/commonagenda2012.pdf
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
rdennen@freelancestar.com
Among environment-related bills:
House Bill 522—Would permit the Department of Conservation and Recreation to create a statewide system of trails that could be accessible to wheelchairs or other mobility devices used by the disabled.
House Bill 1268—Reduces from $100,000 to $50,000 the amount of Land Preservation Tax Credits that may be claimed this year and in 2013.
Senate Bill 676—Localities would submit recycling reports every four years. The Department of Environmental Quality currently requires the report annually.
