10.1-1232 - Voluntary Remediation Program.
§ 10.1-1232. Voluntary Remediation Program.
A. The Virginia Waste Management Board shall promulgate regulations to allowpersons who own, operate, have a security interest in or enter into acontract for the purchase of contaminated property to voluntarily remediatereleases of hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, solid wastes, orpetroleum. The regulations shall apply where remediation has not clearly beenmandated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Departmentor a court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensationand Liability Act (42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq.), the Resource Conservation andRecovery Act (42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.), the Virginia Waste Management Act (§10.1-1400 et seq.), the State Water Control Law (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq.), orother applicable statutory or common law or where jurisdiction of thosestatutes has been waived. The regulations shall provide for the following:
1. The establishment of methodologies to determine site-specific risk-basedremediation standards, which shall be no more stringent than applicable orappropriate relevant federal standards for soil, groundwater and sediments,taking into consideration scientific information regarding the following: (i)protection of public health and the environment, (ii) the future industrial,commercial, residential, or other use of the property to be remediated and ofsurrounding properties, (iii) reasonably available and effective remediationtechnology and analytical quantitation technology, (iv) the availability ofinstitutional or engineering controls that are protective of human health orthe environment, and (v) natural background levels for hazardous constituents;
2. The establishment of procedures that minimize the delay and expense of theremediation, to be followed by a person volunteering to remediate a releaseand by the Department in processing submissions and overseeing remediation;
3. The issuance of certifications of satisfactory completion of remediation,based on then-present conditions and available information, where voluntarycleanup achieves applicable cleanup standards or where the Departmentdetermines that no further action is required;
4. Procedures to waive or expedite issuance of any permits required toinitiate and complete a voluntary cleanup consistent with applicable federallaw; and
5. Registration fees to be collected from persons conducting voluntaryremediation to defray the actual reasonable costs of the voluntaryremediation program expended at the site not to exceed the lesser of $5,000or one percent of the cost of the remediation.
B. Persons conducting voluntary remediations pursuant to an agreement withthe Department entered into prior to the promulgation of those regulationsmay elect to complete the cleanup in accordance with such an agreement or theregulations.
C. Certification of satisfactory completion of remediation shall constituteimmunity to an enforcement action under the Virginia Waste Management Act (§10.1-1400 et seq.), the State Water Control Law (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq.),Chapter 13 (§ 10.1-1300 et seq.) of this title, or any other applicable law.
D. At the request of a person who owns, operates, holds a security interestin or contracts for the purchase of property from which the contamination tobe voluntarily remediated originates, the Department is authorized to seektemporary access to private and public property not owned by such personconducting the voluntary remediation as may be reasonably necessary for suchperson to conduct the voluntary remediation. Such request shall include ademonstration that the person requesting access has used reasonable effort toobtain access by agreement with the property owner. Such access, if granted,shall be granted for only the minimum amount of time necessary to completethe remediation and shall be exercised in a manner that minimizes thedisruption of ongoing activities and compensates for actual damages. Theperson requesting access shall reimburse the Commonwealth for reasonable,actual and necessary expenses incurred in seeking or obtaining access. Denialof access to the Department by a property owner creates a rebuttablepresumption that such owner waives all rights, claims and causes of actionagainst the person volunteering to perform remediation for costs, losses ordamages related to the contamination as to claims for costs, losses ordamages arising after the date of such denial of access to the Department. Aproperty owner who has denied access to the Department may rebut thepresumption by showing that he had good cause for the denial or that theperson requesting that the Department obtain access acted in bad faith.
(2002, c. 378.)