Agenda - 04-15-2014 - 5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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18 ENV-2: Eliminate requirement for a 10 year solid waste management plan and add a requirement in the Solid Waste Management and Facilities annual report for long-term planning. Support legislation to eliminate the statutory provisions requiring units of local government to prepare 10-year solid waste management plans in order to simplify the process, reduce costs and produce results more relevant for local governments. Currently, a 10-year plan and any changes to it, including mandatory three-year updates, must often be approved by multiple units of government, even those that may not utilize local waste disposal facilities. The original and primary reason for requiring 10-year plans was to measure remaining landfill space to ensure future space availability. Other state rules require an annual survey of all landfill facilities to calculate remaining space and, with modern Geographical Information Systems, there is no need for the 10-year plan to duplicate this effort. ENV-3:Authorize some county oversight of bio-solids application. Support legislation that provides county governments some opportunity to regulate and/or have input into, but not prohibit, bio-solids application activities, including the acceptable"classes" of bio-solids for application and the prohibition of bio-solids application in certain environmentally sensitive areas such as critical watersheds. The appropriate application of bio-solids for agricultural use should be allowed with counties playing a role in the process. ENV-4: Modify spray irrigation systems classification for volunteer fire departments. Support legislation to change North Carolina Division of Water Quality (DWQ)wastewater system classification rules that currently classify a spray irrigation system such as one utilized by volunteer fire departments as "commercial." When the flow generated by the system is domestic quality/non-industrial process wastewater, the system should be held to the same monitoring and testing standards as a residential wastewater system under DWQ jurisdiction. In the alternative, volunteer fire departments should also be excluded entirely from the"commercial" classification. The annual inspections and testing costs associated with a"commercial" designation for a spray irrigation system serving a volunteer fire department can be several thousands of dollars. Accounting for the type of flow actually treated by a system rather than assigning a blanket "commercial" designation to the system would significantly reduce volunteer the annual costs for fire departments across the state, saving taxpayer dollars supporting these services. ENV-S: Monitor and protect counties from negative fiscal and environmental impacts caused by natural resource extraction and oppose removal of Virginia's ban on uranium mining. Support state legislative and regulatory actions to protect county budgets and services from any negative impacts resulting from natural resource extraction. The state is moving forward in exploring new means of, and additional locations for, natural gas extraction. Such activities have the potential to affect county government operations and quality of life in impacted areas, and therefore could increase county service costs.