Virginia Law

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Abandoned facility" means any inactive solid waste management facility that has not met closure and post-closure care requirements.

"Active life" means the period of operation beginning with the initial receipt of solid waste and ending at the completion of closure activities required by the Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81). Active life does not include the post-closure care monitoring period.

"Anniversary date" means the date of issuance of a financial mechanism.

"Assets" means all existing and all probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity.

"Authority" means an authority created under the provisions of the Virginia Water and Waste Authorities Act, Chapter 51 (§ 15.2-5100 et seq.) of Title 15.2 of the Code of Virginia, or, if any such authority shall be abolished, the board, body, or commission succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to whom the powers given by the Virginia Water and Waste Authorities Act to such authority shall be given by law.

"Board" means the Virginia Waste Management Board.

"Cash plus marketable securities" means all the cash plus marketable securities held on the last day of a fiscal year, excluding cash and marketable securities designed to satisfy past obligations such as pensions.

"Closed facility" means a solid waste management facility that has been properly secured in accordance with the requirements of the Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81), the Regulated Medical Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-121), or the Transportation of Solid and Medical Wastes on State Waters Regulations (9VAC20-170). A closed facility may be undergoing post-closure care.

"Closure" means the act of securing a solid waste management facility pursuant to the requirements of this chapter and any other applicable solid waste management standards.

"Commercial transporter" means any person who transports for the purpose of commercial carriage of solid wastes or regulated medical wastes as cargo.

"Corrective action" means all actions necessary to mitigate the public health or environmental threat from a release to the environment of solid waste or constituents of solid waste from an operating, abandoned, or closed solid waste management facility and to restore the environmental conditions as required.

"Current annual inflation factor" means the annual inflation factor derived from the most recent Implicit Price Deflator for Gross National Product published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in its Survey of Current Business.

"Current assets" means cash or other assets or resources commonly identified as those which are reasonably expected to be realized in cash or sold or consumed during the normal operating cycle of the business.

"Current closure cost estimate" means the most recent of the estimates prepared in accordance with the requirements of 9VAC20-70-111.

"Current dollars" means the figure represented by the total of the cost estimate multiplied by the current annual inflation factor.

"Current liabilities" means obligations whose liquidation is reasonably expected to require the use of existing resources properly classifiable as current assets or the creation of other current liabilities.

"Current post-closure cost estimate" means the most recent of the estimates prepared in accordance with the requirements of 9VAC20-70-112.

"Current year expenses for closure" means expenditures documented by the facility during the previous fiscal year for construction-related activities associated with closing the facility. Expenses for closure must be detailed and identified in an approved closure plan.

"Debt service" means the amount of principal and interest due on a loan in a given time period, typically the current year.

"Deficit" means total annual revenues less total annual expenditures.

"Department" means the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

"Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

"Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters.

"Facility" means any solid waste management facility unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "facility" includes transfer stations.

"Federal agency" means any department, agency, or other instrumentality of the federal government, any independent agency, or establishment of the federal government including any government corporation and the Government Printing Office.

"Governmental unit" means any department, institution or commission of the Commonwealth and any public corporate instrumentality thereof, and any district, and shall include local governments.

"Groundwater" means any water, except capillary moisture or unsaturated zone moisture, beneath the land surface in the zone of saturation or beneath the bed of any stream, lake, reservoir or other body of surface water within the boundaries of this Commonwealth, whatever may be the subsurface geologic structure in which such water stands, flows, percolates or otherwise occurs.

"Hazardous waste" means a "hazardous waste" as defined by the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-60).

"Landfill" means a sanitary landfill, an industrial waste landfill, or a construction/demolition/debris landfill as defined by the Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81).

"Leachate" means a liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and that contains soluble, suspended, or miscible materials from such waste. Leachate and any material with which it is mixed is solid waste; except that leachate that is pumped from a collection tank for transportation for disposal in an off-site facility is regulated as septage, and leachate discharged into a wastewater collection system is regulated as industrial wastewater.

"Liabilities" means probable future sacrifices of economic benefits arising from present obligations to transfer assets or provide services to other entities in the future as a result of past transactions or events.

"Local government" means a county, city or town or any authority, commission, or district created by one or more counties, cities or towns.

"Net working capital" means current assets minus current liabilities.

"Net worth" means total assets minus total liabilities and is equivalent to owner's equity.

"Operator" means the person responsible for the overall operation and site management of a solid waste management facility.

"Owner" means a person who owns a solid waste management facility or part of a solid waste management facility. For the purposes of this chapter, all individuals, corporations, companies, partnerships, societies or associations, and any federal agency or governmental unit of the Commonwealth having any title or interest in any solid waste management facility or the services or facilities to be rendered thereby shall be considered an owner.

"Parent corporation" means a corporation that directly owns at least 50% of the voting stock of the corporation that is the facility owner or operator; the latter corporation is deemed a "subsidiary" of the parent corporation.

"Permit" means the written permission of the director to own, operate, modify, or construct a solid waste management facility.

"Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, a governmental body, a municipal corporation or any other legal entity.

"Post-closure care" means the requirements placed upon an owner or operator of a solid waste disposal facility after closure to ensure environmental and public health and safety are protected for a specified number of years after closure.

"Receiving facility" means a facility, vessel or operation that receives solid wastes or regulated medical wastes transported, loaded or unloaded upon the navigable waters of the Commonwealth, to the extent allowable under state law, by a commercial transporter. A receiving facility is considered as a solid waste management facility. A facility that receives solid waste from a ship, barge or other vessel and is regulated under § 10.1-1454.1 of the Code of Virginia shall be considered a transfer facility for purposes of this chapter.

"Regulated medical waste" means solid waste so defined by the Regulated Medical Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-121) as promulgated by the Virginia Waste Management Board.

"Sanitary landfill" means an engineered land burial facility for the disposal of solid waste which is so located, designed, constructed and operated to contain and isolate the solid waste so that it does not pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment.

"Signature" means the name of a person written with his own hand.

"Site" means all land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements thereon used for treating, storing, and disposing of solid waste. This term includes adjacent land within the property boundary used for utility systems such as repair, storage, shipping or processing areas, or other areas incident to the management of solid waste.

"Solid waste" means any of those materials defined as "solid waste" in the Virginia Waste Management Act and the Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81).

"Solid waste disposal facility" means a solid waste management facility at which solid waste will remain after closure.

"Solid waste management facility (SWMF)" means a site used for planned treating, storing, or disposing of solid waste. A facility may consist of several treatment, storage, or disposal units.

"Storage" means the holding of waste, at the end of which the waste is treated, disposed, or stored elsewhere.

"Substantial business relationship" means the extent of a business relationship necessary under applicable Virginia law to make a guarantee contract incident to that relationship valid and enforceable. A "substantial business relationship" shall arise from a pattern of recent and on-going business transactions, in addition to the guarantee itself, such that a currently existing business relationship between the guarantor and the owner or operator is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the director.

"Tangible net worth" means the tangible assets that remain after deducting liabilities; such assets would not include intangibles such as goodwill and rights to patents or royalties.

"Total expenditures" means all expenditures excluding capital outlays and debt repayment.

"Total revenue" means revenue from all taxes and fees but does not include the proceeds from borrowing or asset sales, excluding revenue from funds managed on behalf of a specific third party.

"Transfer station" means any solid waste storage or collection facility at which solid waste is transferred from collection vehicles to haulage vehicles for transportation to a central solid waste management facility for disposal, incineration or resource recovery.

"Treatment" means any method, technique, or process, including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any waste to neutralize it or render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for transport, or more amenable to use, reuse, reclamation or recovery.

"Unit" means a discrete area of land used for the management of solid waste.