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State board asked to adopt emergency rule to exempt bovine incinerators under new law
Summary
At its April 17 meeting in Richmond, DEQ staff asked the State Air Pollution Control Board to adopt an emergency regulatory amendment implementing Senate Bill 1495 to add bovine incinerators to the list of permanent exemptions from minor new source review permitting; the department said the change is needed to conform to state law and will accept petitions under the Administrative Process Act.
At the April 17 State Air Pollution Control Board meeting in Richmond, Karen Svasanski, a regulation writer in the office of air data analysis and planning, told the board that Senate Bill 1495 requires it to amend 9 VAC 5-80-1105 of the Virginia Administrative Code to add bovine incinerators to the list of permanent exemptions for agricultural-use incinerators.
"This bill requires the state air pollution control board to amend 9 VAC 5-80-1105 of the Virginia Administrative Code relating to permanent exemptions for poultry or swine incinerators to include bovine incinerators," Svasanski said. She added the bill declares an emergency and that, in this context, "emergency does not mean call 911. It merely means that we should adopt this regulation as expeditiously as possible."
The department framed the exemption as a public-health and environmental protection measure: Svasanski said agricultural incinerators for farm animals are needed "to prevent the spread of disease and to protect the land and groundwater when other methods such as rendering or composting simply isn't practical." She noted poultry and swine were exempted from minor new source review permitting in 2012 following avian influenza outbreaks and said the proposed change would extend the exemption to bovine operations to comply with the new state law.
DEQ recommended that the board adopt the proposal with an effective date consistent with the Administrative Process Act and notified the board it will receive and consider petitions for reconsideration or revision under the cited APA section. The transcript does not record a formal board vote to adopt the regulatory amendment during this session.
The board did not receive public comment on the proposal during the meeting; the chair announced no one had registered for the public forum. The department said petitions by any person will be considered according to the APA provisions cited in the presentation.
