ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 29, 1996 TAG: 9601300008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Green Scene
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE
More than 100 natural resource bills - on topics ranging from conservation easements to wolf breeding - have been submitted for the 1996 session of the Virginia General Assembly. Judging from past sessions, most will be killed early on, in subcommittees. Some, however, will make it through the tortuous political process for a vote on the floor of the Senate or House of Delegates.
Environmental groups will focus on two bills that would gain the power - known as legal standing - for citizens and local governments to challenge water and air permits in court.
"We really think this is the year for standing," said Deanna Sampson, with the Virginia Conservation Network, a coalition of dozens of environmental groups around the state.
Two recent events have bolstered the environmental community's position that the state's laws are too strict, Sampson said. The state issued a permit for a medical waste incinerator in Bland County over the objections of residents and the board of supervisors. The board is considering a challenge to the state's standing law.
Also, in King George County, a sludge management company was granted a water discharge permit despite protests from citizens and the board of supervisors there, Sampson said.
Currently, only the party seeking a water discharge permit can appeal the state's decision. For air permits, a party must prove substantial, immediate and financial injury to sue. Many manufacturers and the Allen administration, concerned about frivolous lawsuits and delays in permitting industrial expansion, have resisted changing the law.
Two bills, HB 1412 from Del. Tayloe Murphy Jr., D-Warsaw, and HB 1532 from Del. George Grayson, D-Williamsburg, would broaden the requirements.
Sampson said environmentalists will be closely watching another bill - HB 1031 from Del. John Reid, D-Richmond - which they believe would stifle citizens' right to safeguard their air and water quality.
The bill would exempt the State Air Pollution Control and the State Water Control Boards from following procedures for public notice and hearings for issuing air and water "general permits" for individual facilities.
Sampson explained it this way. The boards issue general permits for certain sectors of the economy - currently for hog farms, seafood processing plants and stormwater management facilities. The boards take public comments for 60 days and hold a public hearing before passing regulations for the permits.
When a new hog farm or seafood plant opens and complies with the rules, the Department of Environmental Quality issues a general permit automatically - without seeking comments from that particular community about that particular facility.
To learn more about these and other environmental bills, plan to attend a talk by Terri Cofer, director of the Virginia Conservation Network, Tuesday at 7 p.m. The program is sponsored by the Roanoke River Group of the Sierra Club and the Blue Ridge Environmental Network, and will be in the Science Museum of Western Virginia lecture hall, fifth floor of Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke.
Or you can do what this reporter did - surf the net. The World Wide Web address for the General Assembly is "www.state.va.us/dlas/welcome.htm." Here's a quick look at other bills:
Establish a subcommittee to study drinking water supply problems in Southwest Virginia and possible ways to pay for solutions. (HJR 104, Phillips)
Establish an Abandoned Waste Site Authority to issue up to $25 million in bonds, and set up a special fund to clean up some 2,000 abandoned dumps identified by the state, including Kim Stan in Alleghany County. (HB 649, Deeds)
Abolish the secretariat of natural resources for at least two years, delegating that office's responsibilities to various agencies and commissions. Del. Grayson was the sole vote against the confirmation of Allen's appointed Secretary of Natural Resources, Becky Norton Dunlop, whose appointment expires in two years. (HB 1526, Grayson)
Prohibit hunting of animals other than state-defined game animals on shooting preserves. It's unclear how this would affect Boar Walla Lodge in Alleghany County. (HB 1535, Grayson)
Prohibit the breeding, sale or purchase of hybrid wolf dogs. Anyone owning a wolf dog must have it sterilized before 1997.
Require that conservation easements disclose the limitations and obligations created in the easement. (HB 1209, Katzen)
Allow citizens to sue for compensation when a law or regulation diminishes his or her property value by more than 20 percent. (HB 1210, Katzen)
Prohibit the state or governor from accepting real property if the grantor has not provided for funding and maintenance of the property. (HB 1208, Katzen)
Proceeds from sale of surpluse property shall go to higher education capital improvements (50%), health and human services capital improvements (25%), and the Conservation Resources Fund, which is used for state parks (25%). (HB 643, Thomas)
Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, submitted the same bill last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Allen, who wanted all proceeds to go to higher education. Del. Harry Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, has a bill that would give all the money to higher education. (HB 927)
Currently, half goes to the conservation fund and half goes to the general fund.
Universities have eco-lectures
Tonight, at 7:30, Saifur Rahman will speak at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Blacksburg. Rahman, director of Virginia Tech's Center for Energy and the Global Environment, will speak on the "The Need for Global Understanding in Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emmissions."
And at Radford University, environmental activist Helen Caldicott will be the keynote speaker for the school's Peace Studies Week, Feb. 5-9. Caldicott, founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, will speak Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium.
Other planned activities include
Display at Heth Plaza commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
Lecture on Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. in the Heth Hall Commonwealth Room by Radford University professors Justin Askins and Win Everham on "Deep Ecology and Social Ecology."
Lecture on Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m., also in the Commonwealth Room, by John Cairns, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Environmental Biology, Emeritus, Virginia Tech. Cairns will speak on "Eco-Societal Restoration: Making Our Peace with Natural Systems."
LENGTH: Long : 131 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB