Virginia Law

A. The Department shall establish the Remediated Mine Gas Grant Program (the Program) to assist projects in the Commonwealth to capture and utilize methane from active and abandoned mines, thereby reducing additional methane emissions and supporting economic revitalization in coalfields regions, particularly Southwest Virginia.

B. Subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, the Department shall award remediated mine gas grants on a first-come, first-served basis to grantees that (i) incur eligible expenditures during the taxable year or (ii) successfully capture and utilize additional volumes of or sequester remediated mine gas in the Commonwealth. No grantee shall receive more than one grant per fiscal year. In order to apply for a grant, a grantee shall submit an application to the Department, which shall include (a) the amount, in metric tons, of remediated mine gas captured and utilized or sequestered in the Commonwealth by the grantee during the taxable year and (b) any eligible expenditures incurred by the grantee during the taxable year.

C. No later than October 1 of any year in which funds are made available for the Program, each grant recipient shall submit a report to the Department. Such report shall include information concerning (i) the amount, in metric tons, of remediated mine gas captured and utilized or sequestered in the Commonwealth by the grantee during the taxable year; or, if not utilized or sequestered, the net additional volume of methane captured relative to the baseline established in the grant agreement; (ii) the amount of money spent on the purchase and maintenance of machinery and equipment necessary for the capture of remediated mine gas; and (iii) the amount of money spent on the hiring of employees or vendors whose primary duties or contracted scope involves the capture, utilization, or sequestration of remediated mine gas. For the first year of an award, a grantee may elect to report quantified greenhouse gas emissions reductions attributable to the project in the subsequent year's October 1 report, provided that an initial report is submitted by October 1 of the award year describing the project status, commissioning milestones, and preliminary capture volumes.

D. No later than January 1 of any year after which funds are made available for the Program, the Department shall submit a report summarizing the information received pursuant to subsection C to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committees on Appropriations and Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources.

2026, c. 494.