Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Periodic Review

Department of Environmental Quality

State Water Control Board

Facility and Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Regulation [9 VAC 25 ‑ 91]

Review 669

Periodic Review of this Chapter

Includes a Small Business Impact Review

Date Filed: 6/24/2001

Notice of Periodic Review

Pursuant to Executive Order Number Twenty-five (1998), the Department of Environmental Quality on behalf of the State Water Control Board, will perform an analysis on the Facility and Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Regulation (9 VAC 25-91-10 et seq.) and provide the board with a report on the results. The analysis shall include: (i) the purpose and need for the regulation; (ii) alternatives which would achieve the stated purpose of the regulation in a less burdensome and less intrusive manner; (iii) an assessment of the effectiveness of this chapter; (iv) the results of a review of current state and federal statutory and regulatory requirements, including identification and justification of requirements of this regulation which are more stringent than federal requirements; and (v) the results of a review as to whether this regulation is clearly written and easily understandable by affected entities.

Upon review of the department's analysis, the board shall confirm the need to: (i) continue this regulation without amendments; (ii) repeal this regulation; or (iii) amend this regulation. If the board's decision is to repeal or amend this regulation, the board shall authorize the department to initiate the applicable regulatory process to carry out the decision of the board. The review of the regulation will be guided by the principles listed in Executive Order Number Twenty-five (1998).

The goals of this regulation are: (i) to protect public health and/or welfare with the least possible costs and intrusiveness to the citizens and businesses of the Commonwealth and (ii) to protect the environment and public health and safety from discharges of oil by providing procedures and requirements for registering tanks, developing facility and tank vessel oil discharge contingency plans and establishing pollution prevention standards.

The department and the board are seeking public comment on the review of any issue relating to this regulation including whether: (i) the regulations are effective in achieving their goals; (ii) the regulations are essential to protect the health, safety of welfare of citizens or for the economical performance of important governmental functions; (iii) there are less burdensome and less intrusive alternatives for achieving the purpose of the regulations; and (iv) the regulations are clearly written and easily understandable by the affected persons.

Comments on the above are welcome and will be accepted until July 9, 2001. Comments should be sent to Samuel Lillard, Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Spill Response and Remediation/10th Floor, P. O. Box 10009, Richmond, Virginia 23240-0009, (804) 698-4276, FAX (804) 698-4266, or email lslillard@deq.state.va.us.