Pursuant to Commonwealth of Virginia regulation section 9 VAC 25-210-116D (state regulation), the Department of Environmental Quality (Department) is giving notice of its intent to approve revised advance credit fee schedules in several river basins for use by the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (VARTF).  VARTF is an approved in-lieu fee mitigation program (ILF Program), sponsored and operated by The Nature Conservancy (Sponsor).  This public notice is specific to the Sponsor’s 2023 request to increase their fee schedule in several basins, based on rising costs of existing VARTF projects and recent bids on mitigation related activities and credit purchases.

The Department intends to approve the 2023 revised fee schedules.  State regulation specifies that an ILF Program must have “A mechanism to establish fee amounts that will ensure each contribution will be adequate to compensate for the wetland acreage and functions or stream functions and water quality benefits lost in the impacted watershed.”  In the provided “VARTF Advance Credit Fee Schedule” document, VARTF describes the circumstances leading to the requested 2023 revised fee schedules in each river basin.

A copy of this public notice and the VARTF 2023 revised fee schedules will be available on February 27, 2023 on the DEQ website Wetlands and Streams Public Notice page, under the Permits and Regulatory section, https://www.deq.virginia.gov/permits-regulations/public-notices/water/wetlands-streams. The deadline for submitting comments is March 29, 2023.

Statutory Authority: § 62.1-44.15:20-23 of the Code of Virginia; 9 VAC 25-210-116D of the Virginia Administrative Code.

Public Comment Deadline: 11:59 PM on March 29, 2023