A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 10.1-1186.7, relating to Department of Environmental Quality; carbon market participation; coastal and marine resources.
HB1152 would authorize the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to participate in carbon markets tied to the preservation, restoration, and sustainable management of coastal and marine resources on state-owned bottomlands and other state property. The bill allows the Department to enter into agreements with private entities to help register and sell offset credits, and it gives the Department exclusive title to those credits until they are sold.
The measure also permits the Department to work with leaseholders of state-owned bottomlands and to retain part of the revenue to cover administrative costs. After a sale, the bill directs the proceeds so that 75 percent goes to the Oyster Replenishment Fund and 25 percent goes to the qualifying leaseholder, creating a revenue-sharing structure intended to support oyster-related restoration and coastal resource management.
The bill would add a new section to Title 10.1 of the Code of Virginia, giving DEQ express authority to engage in carbon credit transactions associated with coastal and marine conservation projects. It would affect state environmental policy, state-owned submerged lands, leaseholders of bottomlands, and the Oyster Replenishment Fund by creating a mechanism for monetizing conservation outcomes and distributing the resulting revenue.
No committee transcript is available, but the bill was reported out of the House Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee unanimously before later being stricken at the request of the patron. That suggests the concept was not controversial in committee, though the patron ultimately chose not to advance it further. Overall, the available record indicates neutral-to-positive treatment, with no recorded opposition votes.
The main policy questions likely involve whether a state agency should participate in carbon markets, how offset credits generated from public coastal resources should be managed, and how revenues should be divided between the state, leaseholders, and restoration funds. Potential points of concern include the use of private entities to facilitate credit sales, the Department’s retention of administrative costs, and whether carbon-market participation is the best tool for managing coastal and marine resources. No specific opposition is documented in the available materials.