A. The Department shall conduct a comprehensive statewide baseline and projection inventory of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and shall update such inventory every four years. The Board may adopt regulations necessary to collect from all source sectors data needed by the Department to conduct, update, and maintain such inventory.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 10.1-1307.04

  • Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
  • Board: means the State Air Pollution Control Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1300
  • Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1300
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC

B. The Department shall include the inventory in the report required pursuant to subsection H of § 10.1-1307, beginning with the report issued prior to October 1, 2022, and every four years thereafter. The Department shall publish such inventory on its website, showing changes in GHG emissions relative to an estimated GHG emissions baseline case for calendar year 2010.

C. Any information, except emissions data, that is reported to or otherwise obtained by the Department pursuant to this section and that contains or might reveal proprietary information shall be confidential and shall be exempt from the mandatory disclosure requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act2.2-3700 et seq.). Each owner shall notify the Director or his representative of the existence of proprietary information if he desires the protection provided pursuant to this subsection.

2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 98; 2022, c. 356.