CHAPTER 762
An Act to direct the Department of Energy to identify the volume and number of waste coal piles.
[H 657]
Approved April 27, 2022
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. The Department of Energy (the Department), in cooperation with the public institutions of higher education serving the coalfield region of the Commonwealth, shall identify the approximate volume and number of waste coal piles present in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth and options for cleaning up such waste coal piles, including the use of waste coal in generation of electricity. The Department shall also collaborate with other states in which waste coal piles are located that are members of the Appalachian Regional Commission to identify best practices for cleaning up waste coal piles. The Department shall report its findings and any recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the House Committee on Commerce and Energy, and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by December 1, 2022. For purposes of this act, "waste coal" means usable material that is a by-product of previous coal processing operations.
§ 2. The Department of Energy shall convene a working group, including, as appropriate, representatives from the Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Transportation's Transportation Research Council, and other stakeholders, to evaluate the opportunities for the development of public infrastructure projects at current or proposed sites for the storage of coal ash in the Commonwealth. The working group shall report its findings and any recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Senate Committee on Transportation, the House Committee on Commerce and Energy, the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Transportation by December 1, 2022.