Authority: Title 10.1, Chapters 11.1, 13 and 14; Title 44, Chapter 3.5; Title 46.2; §§ 46.2-1176 through 46.2-1187.3; and Title 62.1, Chapters 3.1, 20, 24 and 25, Code of Virginia.

A. The Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to commit resources necessary to qualify for in-kind match for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir, Virginia and North Carolina Feasibility Study, to be conducted in accordance with § 216 of the River and Harbors Flood Control Act of 1970.

B. Included in this appropriation is $486,000 each year in nongeneral funds for the State Programmatic General Permit program. The source of the nongeneral funds is $236,000 each year from fees associated with the program and $250,000 each year from the Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund, representing fines collected as a result of wetlands regulation violations. In addition, the Department of Environmental Quality shall apply for federal grants, including a Coastal Zone Management Grant, to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of Virginia's nontidal wetlands program.

C. The Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to use up to $300,000 each year from the Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program Fund to implement the provisions of Chapter 710, Acts of Assembly of 2002, which authorizes the Department to operate a program to subsidize repairs of vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards established by the Board when the owner of the vehicle is financially unable to have the vehicle repaired.

D. Notwithstanding the provisions of Title 10.1, Chapter 25, Code of Virginia, the Department is authorized to expend funds from the balances in the Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund for costs associated with its waste management and water programs.

E.  Out of this item, $35,000 the second year from the general fund shall be used by the Director to waive or forgive the annual VPDES Permit Program Maintenance Fee due either October 1, 2004 or October 1, 2005 for any municipal waste water treatment or drinking water treatment system, publicly owned, that is a Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit holder with a discharge limit of less than 10 million gallons per day, that paid permit application fees between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2004 and that submitted a written appeal claiming financial hardship caused by payment of the fee to the Department by December 31, 2004.