Advocates have long criticized Virginia’s permitting process for only looking into the narrow impacts of the singular project being considered in the regulatory process instead of the cumulative pollution impact that a community is facing.
When the same community has a high concentration of power plants or polluting factories, for example, they are at higher risk of suffering negative health risks.
This bill directs the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to update and strengthen its guidance memo for how to address environmental justice in the permitting process to take into consideration how to assess cumulative impacts and ensure proactive community engagement.
HB1266 passed out of the House 65-34 with Republican Delegate Israel O’Quinn joining Democrats. The bill passed the Senate 22-18 with support from Republican Senator Richard Stuart. Gov. Spanberger signed the bill into law.