[Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Buchanan County 1-9-2017. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
[In regard to statutory references, unless the
County specifically amends the statutory provisions to the contrary
or repeals the statutory provisions, future amendments to said statute
shall take effect as provided by law.]
The purpose of this chapter is to protect public health, safety,
and welfare by regulating open burning within Buchanan County to achieve
and maintain, to the greatest extent practicable, a level of air quality
that will provide comfort and convenience while promoting economic
and social development. This chapter is intended to supplement the
applicable regulations promulgated by the State Air Pollution Control
Board and other applicable regulations and laws.
For the purpose of this chapter and subsequent amendments or
any orders issued by Buchanan County, the words or phrases shall have
the meaning given them in this section.
Solid waste contaminated with animal feces and urine.
Any lot or place that is exposed to the weather and upon
which more than five motor vehicles of any kind, incapable of being
operated, and that it would not be economically practical to make
operative, are placed, located or found.
Any area with a substantial portion covered by industrial,
commercial or residential buildings.
Waste that is not prohibited to be burned under this chapter
and that consists only of:
Wood or wood products that have been cut or shaped and include
wet, air-dried, and kiln-dried wood products. Clean lumber does not
include wood products that have been painted, pigment-stained, or
pressure-treated by compounds such as chromate copper arsenate, pentachlorophenol,
and creosote.
Uncontaminated natural or untreated wood. Clean wood includes,
but is not limited to, by-products of harvesting activities conducted
for forest management or commercial logging, or mill residues consisting
of bark, chips, edgings, sawdust, shavings or slabs. It does not include
wood that has been treated, adulterated, or chemically changed in
some way; treated with glues, binders or resins; or painted, stained
or coated.
Solid waste that is produced or generated during construction
remodeling, or repair of pavements, houses, commercial buildings and
other structures. Construction waste consists of lumber, wire, Sheetrock,
broken brick, shingles, glass, pipes, concrete, and metal and plastics
if the metal or plastics are a part of the materials of construction
or empty containers for such materials. Paints, coatings, solvents,
asbestos, any liquid, compressed gases or semi-liquids, and garbage
are not construction wastes, and the disposal of such materials must
be in accordance with the regulations of the Virginia Waste Management
Board.
Wastes resulting from land-clearing operations. Debris wastes
include but are not limited to stumps, wood, brush, leaves, soil and
road spoils.
That solid waste which is produced by the destruction of
structures, or their foundations, or both, and includes the same materials
as construction waste.
Readily putrescible discarded materials composed of animal,
vegetable or other organic matter.
A "hazardous waste" as described in 9 VAC 20-60, Hazardous
Waste Management Regulations.
Any waste material, including garbage, trash and refuse,
derived from households. For purposes of this regulation, households
include single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses,
ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds and day-use
recreation areas. Household wastes do not include sanitary waste in
septic tanks (septage) which is regulated by state agencies.
Any solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial
processes that is not a regulated hazardous waste. Such waste may
include but is not limited to waste resulting from the following manufacturing
processes: electric power generation; fertilizer/agricultural chemicals;
food and related products/by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and
steel manufacturing; leather and leather products; nonferrous metals
manufacturing/foundries; organic chemicals; plastics and resins manufacturing;
pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products;
stone, glass, clay and concrete products; textile manufacturing; transportation
equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include mining
waste or oil and gas waste.
An establishment or place of business that is maintained,
operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk, or
for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, and the
term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary landfills.
A sanitary landfill, an industrial waste landfill, or a construction/demolition/debris
landfill. See Solid Waste Management Regulations (9 VAC 20-80) for
further definitions of these terms.
Any landfill located within the jurisdiction of a local government.
The combustion of solid waste without:
A device used to burn waste for the primary purpose of reducing
the volume by removing combustible matter. Such devices function by
directing a curtain of air at an angle across the top of a trench
or similarly enclosed space, thus reducing the amount of combustion
by-products emitted into the atmosphere. The term also includes trench
burners, air curtain incinerators and overdraft incinerators.
All solid waste products having the characteristics of solids
rather than liquids and which are composed wholly or partially of
materials such as garbage, trash, rubbish, litter, residues from cleanup
of spills or contamination or other discarded materials.
Any operation consisting of a business, trade or industry
participating in salvaging or reclaiming any product or material,
such as, but not limited to, reprocessing of used motor oils, metals,
chemicals, shipping containers or drums, and specifically including
automobile graveyards and junkyards.
An engineered land burial facility for the disposal of household
waste that is so located, designed, constructed, and operated to contain
and isolate the waste so that it does not pose a substantial present
or potential hazard to human health or the environment. A sanitary
landfill also may receive other types of solid wastes, such as commercial
solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, hazardous waste from conditionally
exempt small quantity generators, construction, demolition, or debris
waste and nonhazardous industrial solid waste. See Solid Waste Management
Regulations (9 VAC 20-80) for further definitions of these terms.
Small gas-borne particulate matter consisting mostly, but
not exclusively, of carbon, ash and other material in concentrations
sufficient to form a visible plume.
An open pit incinerator, conical or teepee burner, or any
other device specifically designed to provide good combustion performance.
Untreated wood and untreated wood products, including tree
stumps (whole or chipped), trees, tree limbs (whole or chipped), bark,
sawdust, chips, scraps, slabs, millings, and shavings. Wood waste
does not include:
Grass, grass clippings, bushes, shrubs, and clippings from
bushes and shrubs that come from residential, commercial/retail, institutional,
or industrial sources as part of maintaining yards or other private
or public lands. Yard waste does not include construction, renovation,
and demolition wastes or clean wood.
A.Â
No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the destruction of refuse
except as provided in this chapter.
B.Â
No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the destruction of rubber
tires, asphaltic materials, crankcase oil, impregnated wood or other
rubber or petroleum based materials except when conducting bona fide
firefighting instruction at firefighting training schools having permanent
facilities.
C.Â
No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the destruction of hazardous
waste or containers for such materials.
D.Â
No owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning or the
use of a special incineration device for the purpose of a salvage
operation or for the destruction of commercial/industrial waste/agriculture
waste.
E.Â
Open burning or the use of special incineration devices permitted
under the provisions of this chapter does not exempt or excuse any
owner or other person from the consequences, liability, damages or
injuries that may result from such conduct; nor does it excuse or
exempt any owner or other person from complying with other applicable
laws, ordinances, regulations and orders of the governmental entities
having jurisdiction, even though the open burning is conducted in
compliance with this chapter. In this regard special attention should
be directed to § 10.1-1142 of the Forest Fire Law of Virginia,
the regulations of the Virginia Waste Management Board, and the State
Air Pollution Control Board's regulations for the control and
abatement of air pollution.
F.Â
Upon declaration of an alert, warning or emergency stage of an air
pollution episode as described in 9 VAC 5, Chapter 70 (9 VAC 5-70),
or when deemed advisable by the State Air Pollution Control Board
to prevent a hazard to, or an unreasonable burden upon, public health
or welfare, no owner or other person shall cause or permit open burning
or use of a special incineration device; and any in-process burning
or use of special incineration devices shall be immediately terminated
in the designated air quality control region.
The following activities are exempted to the extent covered
by the State Air Pollution Control Board's regulations for the
control and abatement of air pollution:
A.Â
Open burning for training and instruction of government and public
firefighters under the supervision of the designated official and
industrial in-house firefighting personnel;
B.Â
Open burning for campfires or other fires that are used solely for
recreational purposes, for ceremonial occasions, for outdoor noncommercial
preparation of food, and for warming of outdoor workers;
C.Â
Open burning for the destruction of any combustible liquid or gaseous
material by burning in a flare or flare stack;
D.Â
Open burning for forest management and agriculture practices approved
by the State Air Pollution Control Board; and
E.Â
Open burning for the destruction of classified military documents.
A.Â
Open burning is permitted on site for the destruction of leaves and
tree, yard and garden trimmings located on the premises of private
property, provided that the following conditions are met:
B.Â
Open burning is permitted on site for destruction of debris waste
resulting from property maintenance, from the development or modification
of roads and highways, parking areas, railroad tracks, pipelines,
power and communication lines, buildings or building areas, sanitary
landfills, or from any other clearing operations that may be approved
by Buchanan County Litter Control Official, provided the following
conditions are met:
(1)Â
All reasonable effort shall be made to minimize the amount of material
burned, with the number and size of the debris piles approved by Buchanan
County Litter Control Official;
(2)Â
The material to be burned shall consist of brush, stumps and similar
debris waste and shall not include demolition material;
(3)Â
The burning shall be at least 500 feet from any occupied building
unless the occupants have given prior permission, other than a building
located on the property on which the burning is conducted;
(4)Â
The burning shall be conducted at the greatest distance practicable
from highways and air fields;
(5)Â
The burning shall be attended at all times and conducted to ensure
the best possible combustion with a minimum of smoke being produced;
(6)Â
The burning shall not be allowed to smolder beyond the minimum period
of time necessary for the destruction of the materials; and
(7)Â
The burning shall be conducted only when the prevailing winds are
away from any city, town or built-up area.
C.Â
Open burning is permitted for destruction of debris on the site of
local landfills or transfer stations provided that the burning does
not take place on land that has been filled and covered so as to present
an underground fire hazard due to the presence of methane gas, provided
that the following conditions are met:
(1)Â
The burning shall take place on the premises of a local sanitary
landfill or transfer station that meets the provisions of the regulations
of the Virginia Waste Management Board;
(2)Â
The burning shall be attended at all times;
(3)Â
The material to be burned shall consist only of brush, tree trimmings,
yard and garden trimmings, clean burning waste, clean burning debris
waste, or clean burning demolition waste;
(4)Â
All reasonable effort shall be made to minimize the amount of material
that is burned;
(5)Â
No materials may be burned in violation of the regulations of the
Virginia Waste Management Board or the State Air Pollution Control
Board. The exact site of the burning on a local landfill or transfer
station shall be established in coordination with the regional director
and Buchanan County Litter Control Official: no other site shall be
used without the approval of these officials. The Buchanan County
Litter Control Official shall be notified of the days during which
the burning will occur.
A.Â
When open burning of debris waste or open burning of debris on the
site of a local landfill is to occur within Buchanan County, the person
responsible for the burning shall obtain a permit from the Buchanan
County Litter Control Official prior to the burning. Such a permit
may be granted only after confirmation by Buchanan County Litter Control
Official that the burning can and will comply with the provisions
of this chapter and any other conditions that are deemed necessary
to ensure that the burning will not endanger the public health and
welfare or to ensure compliance with any applicable provisions of
the State Air Pollution Control Board's regulations for the control
and abatement of air pollution. The permit may be issued for each
occasion of burning or for a specific period of time deemed appropriate
by Buchanan County Litter Control Official.
B.Â
Prior to the initial installation (or reinstallation, in cases of
relocation) and operation of special incineration devices, the person
responsible for the burning shall obtain a permit from the Buchanan
County Litter Control Official, such permits to be granted only after
confirmation by Buchanan County Litter Control Official that the burning
can and will comply with the applicable provisions in regulations
for the control and abatement of air pollution and that any conditions
are met that are deemed necessary by the Buchanan County Litter Control
Official to ensure that the operation of the devices will not endanger
the public health and welfare. Permits granted for the use of special
incineration devices shall at a minimum contain the following conditions:
(1)Â
All reasonable effort shall be made to minimize the amount of material
that is burned. Such efforts shall include, but are not limited to,
the removal of pulpwood, saw logs and firewood.
(2)Â
The material to be burned shall consist of brush, stumps and similar
debris waste and shall not include demolition material.
(3)Â
The burning shall be at least 300 feet from any occupied building
unless the occupants have given prior permission, other than a building
located on the property on which the burning is conducted; burning
shall be conducted at the greatest distance practicable from highways
and air fields. If the Buchanan County Litter Control Official determines
that it is necessary to protect public health and welfare, he may
direct that any of the above-cited distances be increased.
(4)Â
The burning shall be attended at all times and conducted to ensure
the best possible combustion with a minimum of smoke being produced.
Under no circumstances should the burning be allowed to smolder beyond
the minimum period of time necessary for the destruction of the materials.
(5)Â
The burning shall be conducted only when the prevailing winds are
away from any city, town or built-up area.
(6)Â
The use of special incineration devices shall be allowed only for
the destruction of debris waste, clean burning construction waste,
and clean burning demolition waste.
(7)Â
Permits issued under this subsection shall be limited to a specific
period of time deemed appropriate by the Buchanan County Litter Control
Official.
