Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
Board
Department of Environmental Quality

General Notice
Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program - Public Notice of Changes to Enforceable Policies and Opportunity to Comment
Date Posted: 3/11/2021
Expiration Date: 4/1/2021
Submitted to Registrar for publication: NO
No comment forum defined for this notice.
Notice of Intended Action: The federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) requires that federal actions be consistent with the policies of federally approved state coastal management programs. This authority provided to states is known as the CZMA “Federal Consistency” requirement. Under the terms of the CZMA and its implementing regulations, the policies of the state used to assess the consistency of federal actions are referred to as “enforceable policies.” These policies must be approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in order to be applied in the review of federal actions for consistency. In order to more fully represent the commonwealth’s coastal resources and uses, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program has modified two of its enforceable policies. These statements summarize the requirements of the underlying statutory and regulatory requirements of the Virginia CZM Program, and are to be referred to by federal agencies, and federal license and permit applicants when assessing whether their proposed actions may have reasonably foreseeable effects on coastal uses or resources of the Virginia coastal zone, and are consistent with the enforceable policies of the Virginia CZM Program. In addition, the requested program change includes the incorporation of preamble language that includes the general policy from the Constitution of Virginia on which all of the Commonwealth’s environmental laws and regulations are based. This is not proposed as an enforceable policy but rather background, supporting information.
Purpose of the Notice: As required by 15 CFR Section 923.81 of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act regulations, notice is hereby given that the Virginia CZM Program has requested review and approval by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management of the narrative policies as a change to the Virginia CZM Program. The requested program change includes modification of the following existing enforceable policies of the Virginia CZM Program, in a narrative format: (I) Tidal Wetlands and Non-Tidal Wetlands and (VIII) Commonwealth Lands. In addition, the requested program change includes the incorporation of preamble language that includes the general policy from the Constitution of Virginia on which all of the commonwealth’s environmental laws and regulations are based. This is not proposed as an enforceable policy but rather background, supporting information.
To Review Documents: A copy of this Program Change submission is available at:
If you require paper copies of these documents or if you have any questions or comments about the Virginia CZM Program’s submission, please contact Bettina Rayfield at 804-698-4204 or bettina.rayfield@deq.virginia.gov.
Public Comment Period: The comment period ends on April 1, 2021.
How to Comment: Comments on this proposed program change should be submitted directly to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through NOAA’s Program Change Portal at: https://coast.noaa.gov/czmprogramchange/#/public/home
 
Program Change Notification List: If you would like to be added to the Virginia CZM Program change notification list, please email your contact information to virginia.witmer@deq.virginia.gov. Please use “Add to Program Change Notification List” as the subject line of your email.

Contact Information
Name / Title: Bettina Rayfield 
Address: DEQ - Central Office
1111 E. Main Street, Suite 1400
Richmond , 23219
Email Address: bettina.rayfield@deq.virginia.gov
Telephone: (804)698-4204    FAX: ()-    TDD: ()-