Virginia’s citizen boards, including the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Control Board, would be crippled and public transparency eliminated under several bills introduced in the General Assembly. Under S.B. 657 and H.B. 1261 the boards would lose their ability to approve permits.
Citizen boards ensure that important environmental decisions are made in full public view, with public debate, public comment, and a transparent vote These bills would result in industry negotiating permits behind closed doors with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Reporters could no longer cover a public forum for state approval of major Virginia projects. Members of the public would lose an opportunity to weigh in on proposals that could increase pollution. HB 1261 would also inject partisan politics into Virginia’s citizen boards by allowing the House and Senate to appoint some Board members.
Virginia’s citizen boards, comprised of volunteer members of the public, ensure that people from across the Commonwealth are engaged in regulatory and permitting decisions. They bring thoughtful, real-world perspectives to supplement technical agency guidance.
In December the Air Board issued a very rare denial of an air permit for a compressor station proposed for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, largely due to DEQ’s failure to comply with project siting requirements in both Virginia law and legal precedent. In response, a separate bill, S.B. 81, would block the Air Board’s ability to consider these siting factors.
Another bill, H.B. 1204, would remove the Air Board’s authority to issue a minor new source review air permit, denying the Board’s ability to approve these permits even when significant public interest has been expressed.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Executive Director Peggy Sanner issued the following statement.
“These bills would seriously reduce the transparency to the public of important governmental actions affecting residents. We cannot let industry and state agencies negotiate permits behind closed doors. Virginians deserve to see how public officials make decisions that affect our lives and livelihoods.
“Citizen boards ensure that Virginians have a meaningful voice in shaping the rules that are intended to protect our air, water, lands, and communities. We must not cut the public out of the process.”
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