Common use of State Public Participation Requirements Clause in Contracts

State Public Participation Requirements. Before VADEQ issues a permit amendment, it holds a public hearing in the locality to solicit comments on the draft permit from concerned citizens. The public hearing is advertised in the local paper. The public hearing is held a minimum of 30 days from the date of the advertisement. Public comment period begins the day of advertisement and ends 15 days after the public hearing is held. Furthermore, the VADEQ has a standardized mailing list of state agencies to whom a draft permit or notice of draft permit is sent to solicit comments. The VADEQ evaluates the comments and prepares a public response document. The VADEQ Director then decides within 30 days after the close of comment period whether or not to issue the permit. Conditions may be imposed due to additional state requirements or as a result of public comment. In the initial stages of permitting, the applicant notifies all of the adjacent property owners of his intent to modify or expand the landfill. In this notification, the project is described and contact information is provided. The citizens can comment on the project at this stage or at any other stage of the permitting process until the permit has been issued. Since both landfills have a valid permit, the VADEQ intends to amend the permit to allow the bioreactor systems as an experimental process. The major amendments would be advertised and open to comment as described above. The details of the respective projects would be outlined in the advertisements along with contact information and document viewing locations. It is anticipated this would help identify additional Stakeholders.