HEPA Filters Reduce the Incidence of Covid

 

Noakes CJ, Burridge HC, Beggs CB, et al
901 Class-ACT: the UK’s trial on the feasibility and effectiveness of air cleaning technologies in schools
Archives of Disease in Childhood 2023;108:A98.

I grew up in a time before widespread central air conditioning and during a time when windows opened and buildings leaked like sieves. In recent decades building maintenance have perfected sealing leaks and minimizing number of air changes per hour. First there was sick building syndrome, then SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 arrived and we remembered why we might want fresh air.  Ensuring proper ventilation with outside air can help reduce indoor airborne contaminants, including COVID-19, and other viruses. Also, HEPA air filters are good for removing wildfire smoke and we should consider investing in one for our homes.

In a study recently reported at the World Health Organization Europe Indoor Air Conference, researcher Catherine Noakes reported on the University of Leeds study where thirty primary schools were assigned to three groups balanced for school type (building; ethnicity; free school meals; total student numbers). These were randomly allocated to three groups: control; HEPA-Air Cleaning Technologies; UVC-Air Cleaning Technologies. All schools were predominantly naturally ventilated and relied on manual opening of windows and doors to ventilate classrooms. All classrooms were equipped with air quality monitors. 

The researchers found that air quality data indicated comparable ventilation rates between groups, and a 48% mean reduction in particulate matter in the HEPA classrooms which were equipped with a free standing HEPA blow filter about the size of  20 gallon kitchen trash can. The HEPA filter in classrooms was found to  reduced the number of covid-19-related sick days by more than 20%.

Only absences related to covid were tracked, but the researchers also believe that the HEPA filters probably also cut other respiratory illnesses like colds and flu. Air filters can cost several hundred dollars and can be noisy, but really produce results. Other studies of the use of HEPA air filters in a hospital in Cambridge UK is expected in the near future.

The Carbon Credit Project in Zimbabwe Collapses

Carbon offsets allow firms and individuals to pay to offset or compensate for the carbon emissions they create.  To eliminate the carbon footprint of airplane flights, a building project, or data centers  by paying to pull carbon out of the air elsewhere. Voluntary offsets have developed into a billion-dollar global market. Now it appears that the carbon credits may just be greenwashing.

Until 2011 most carbon offset projects focused on building out renewable energy and addressing sources of methane to reduce greenhouse gases. This was because land-based projects, such as those involving agriculture and forestry, had been excluded from the  European Union emission trading system under the Kyoto Protocol. As a result, almost no forestry projects were developed. However, in 2011 the preventing deforestation became more desirable on the world stage and it became possible to sell these type of carbon offsets.

The first and largest project was Kariba REDD+ a  forest conservation project  aimed at providing sustainable livelihood opportunities for poor communities in Northern Zimbabwe while locals maintained and cared for the forest. Over the next decade, Kariba’s REDD+ carbon credits were the basis of the claims of breakthrough progress on cutting emissions from its corporate clients. The project has generated $100 million by selling credits for more than 23 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. However, during the past year serious questions have been raised.

Earlier this year news reports began appearing in Europe and in Bloomberg Green that charged the project had overestimated its climate benefits by at least a factor of five while delivering much less money than indicated to communities in Zimbabwe. Last month, a report in The New Yorker  (“The Great Cash-for Carbon Hustle”) raised the concerns about the illegal movement of money and claimed that the carbon reductions were not real. Based on these reports, the Washington, D.C.-based certification body Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard setter for the offsets market, announced it had launched an investigation into the Kariba project. Verra has said that the project will remain on hold, along with “any further credit issuances” until the probe is complete.

South Pole, the world’s leading seller of carbon offsets, has terminated its involvement in its flagship forest protection project in Zimbabwe following these recent allegations and the entire carbon offset market is in turmoil. The collapse of Kariba REDD+ could also endanger the viability of the rest of carbon market, which has slowed this year amid quality concerns, regulatory investigations in the United States and accusations of greenwashing by the United Nations. These problems and weather risks are also undermining the market’s underlying insurance mechanisms, known in the industry as the credit buffer pool. Climate change is bringing increased risks to natural landscapes from drought, wild fires, and invasive bugs and species and some fear these insurance mechanisms are under-capitalized.

A nonprofit, CarbonPlan, voiced concern as early as 2020 that forest fires could easily burn through the buffer pool in California’s carbon market and wildfires this past summer have damaged a carbon offset project. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found estimate that forest offset projects underestimating the risk from natural phenomena by a factor of 10.

The Spiderweb of the Planned expansion of the Grid in Virginia

 Data centers are the bricks and mortar of the internet. These buildings store servers, digital storage equipment, and network infrastructure for large-scale data processing and storage.  Our increasingly digital world has an ever-growing need for data creation, processing, and storage from businesses, online platforms, video streaming, smart and connected infrastructure, autonomous and driver assist vehicles, and artificial intelligence. 

Data centers use an incredible amount of power, which has been growing as demand for data storage and computing power has skyrocketed. The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC)  reports the current power demand for data centers is 60-90 megawatts per building, which is more than the power used by 15,000 households at their most energy intense or peak use. Data center power usage is a flat constant demand. In the future the power use for data centers may increase due to the integration of AI since their more powerful chips require more power to run and more cooling.

The United States houses nearly 30% of data center servers, more than any other country; and northern Virginia houses more data centers than any other locality. In May when Dominion Energy filed its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) it essentially showed that Virginia plans to decarbonize the grid under the VCEA had collided with the exploding demand of the unconstrained growth of the data centers in Northern Virginia. 

The IRP plan presented by Dominion would increase carbon emissions from current levels, instead of dropping to zero by 2040, as required under the VCEA. In the IRP submitted to the SCC Dominion forecasted that power demand would rise 80% and that peak load will rise from a bit more than 17,000 megawatts now to 27,000 megawatts by 2037. You cannot plan that amount of electricity use growth while eliminating generation capacity. It has never been done, and Dominion admits that they need to not only keep all their fossil fuel power generation operating but are asking to build more fossil fuel generation to meet this forecast demand.

All that power must be delivered to the data centers. PJM Interconnection, our regional transmission grid operator, works behind the scenes to ensure the reliability of the power grid to keep the data centers humming and keep the lights and heat on. The PJM extends into 13 states and the District of Columbia: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. PJM balances the loads and makes sure the grid can deliver the power when it is needed.

 PJM is currently looking at proposals to deliver more power to data center alley, which it now defines as an area stretching from Ashburn to south of Manassas. This would encompass the PW Digital Gateway which has yet to receive its rezoning, but will be heard by the Planning Commission on November 8th beginning at 2 pm. To meet the power demands of data centers PJM plans to expand the grid with hundreds of miles of new high-power lines that sit atop 100-foot towers.

Last month, PJM Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee (TEAC) posted a list of 72 project proposals as part of their data center load planning.  The PEC took all  those proposals and digitized as many of the paths as they could from the project descriptions to create a map  you can find at this link. The PEC held an informational meeting in Upperville last week to inform residents who thought the data centers would not impact them that people can see what’s being considered and the communities and resources that might be impacted. 

As you can see in the thumbnail map above, the power is being brought to the Ashburn to Manassas Alley from both east and west. If you look at the larger map the power comes from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This is the PEC map prepared for a Fauquier audience. The red lines will be areas a new power corridors of 100 meter tall power towers, the purple are the power corridors that will be rebuilt with bigger and better towers, the black are right of ways that will be expanded.

That little corn by Hickory Grove caught my eye

According to the PEC: “The PJM TEAC requested proposals for transmission expansion projects to help address modeled “overload violations on the grid” caused by currently operating data centers and to meet immediate load requests for electric service through the planning period (2022-2027). Although not all of these proposals will likely move forward through this “2022 RTEP Window 3” period, it is likely that we will see those not selected return in the next 2023 RTEP Windows. As a result of the massive data center boom occurring in Virginia, we believe this is only the beginning of the massive transmission line proposals we are likely to see over the next few years.”

If you open the PEC map (give it time it loads slowly) you can enter your address and see how these proposal might impact your neighborhood or view shed, or simply take a look at overall impact. When I did, I got a nasty surprise: 100 foot towers bisecting my neighborhood creating a 52 foot wide utility corridor between homes

The enlarged section of bottom right at Hickory Grove

All images are from PEC presentation

Prince William Adopts Sustainability Plan

 During their regular meetings on Tuesday afternoon the Board of County Supervisors voted 5-3 to adopt the Community Energy and SustainabilityMaster Plan “to strive to meet the Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Goals established by the Board through Resolution Number 20-773.”

 A little background: On November 17, 2020, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors adopted Climate Mitigation and Resiliency goals and authorized the creation of a Sustainability Commission.  The Commission was charged with advising on potential enhancements to the Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan (CESMP), which is intended to provide the map for how the county will reach its climate goals that includes Prince William County achieving 50% of 2005 CO2 emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050; but also include plans for adaption to climate change.

Let me get this out of the way first, if you read the plan you will see that there are no realistic scenario that Prince William achieve those goals in the stated time frame. “It was found that due to limited span of control, all five goals will not likely be met through County action alone. It is expected that there would be a gap in emissions reductions needed to hit our 2030 target even if all 25 high priority actions are implemented. It is recommended that the actions are implemented to the best of the County’s ability and to evaluate whether or not to bridge the potential remaining emissions reductions gap using high quality carbon offsets in 2030.”

Carbon credits or offsets represent carbon emission reductions or removal and are traded in on various exchanges or markets. Offsets are tool that companies use to reduce their net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and live up to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, as well as promises made to customers and consumers. They can be problematic in ensuring that they are “real” and non-duplicative.

Our inability to meet the climate goals is that many factors are simply out of the nexus of control of the County, but also the decisions made within the counties nexus of control have been made and continue to be made without regard for the climate impact or the sustainability of Prince William County. Growth and industrial development grow’s the carbon footprint of the county. The problem is predominately the millions of square foot of data centers, already built, under construction and in the pipeline.

Data centers are the physical factories of the internet. Standard data centers are warehouses filled with row upon row of servers, routers, wires, and other information technology hardware spanning hundreds of thousands of highly cooled square feet per building and sucking up incredible amounts of power. Data centers operate 24/7 and increase the baseload needs for power generation. When Dominion Energy filed its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) it essentially showed that Virginia plans to decarbonize the grid under the VCEA had collided with the exploding demand of the unconstrained growth of the data centers in Northern Virginia.

In the submission, Dominion details how it plans to meet electricity needs and demands over the next 15 years. The picture they paint is that Dominion cannot both meet the power demand of the exploding number of data centers in Virginia and the mandates of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).

Also, building more roads and thousands of acres of industrial buildings where there was once woodland and open fields exacerbates the impacts we are already seeing from climate change. Increased rain storm intensity and  more impervious surfaces increases dangerous flash flooding, damages our perennial streams, and negatively impacts our water supply while increasing demand for water by millions upon millions of gallons of water a day.

As a member of the Sustainability Commission I vote to recommend the adaption of the CESMP with several caveats. You can read our entire comments on beginning on page 207 of the attachments. The Sustainability Commission recommended the immediate adoption of all seven adaptation measures listed below (A.1-A.7), as these measures are almost exclusively within the control of the county and are necessary for the future we will have.

A.1.  Develop Adaptation Plans for Critical Facilities
A.2.  Manage Stormwater Flooding Outside of the Floodplain
A.3.  Improve Power Resiliency for Critical Infrastructure
A.4.  Assess Shoreline Protection and Nature[1]Based Solutions
A.5.  Restore Streams to Reduce Flooding
A.6.  Encourage Technology for Residents to Make Homes Adaptive
A.7.  Plan Alternate Evacuation Routes for Flood[1]prone Areas

Saltwater Intrusion

Heavier saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico is moving up the Mississippi River as a growing wedge beneath the freshwater moving downstream. This is primarily because of the lack of rainfall in the Midwest (in the tributary valleys and along the Mississippi itself) during August and September. This lack of rainfall results in a reduced river flow that is not powerful enough and deep enough to prevent the denser and heavier saltwater from moving inland and upriver.

When the Mississippi River flow falls below 300,000 cubic feet per second, it cannot prevent salt from coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. Flows on the Mississippi River fell to 145,000 cubic feet per second at the end of September and is expected to fall even lower in coming weeks. It would require approximately 10 inches of rain across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, to return the river to a high flow rate capable of driving the saltwater wedge back to the Gulf.

The saltwater wedge is expected to reach the New Orleans water intake area in the next couple of weeks. When it does the drinking water will exceed the U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Act standard of 250ppm sodium chloride (salt)  and  people will not want to drink it due to taste, and those on low-salts diets should not exceed 20 ppm sodium chloride. Desalination is not part of this or any river water treatment systems and the New Orleans water treatment system cannot remove the salt. New Orleans is looking to piping or barging fresh water from up river to mix with the New Orleans water and dilute the salt.

Saltwater intrusion is the leading edge of climate change ahead of sea level rise. Saltwater intrusion precedes tidal inundation of low-lying lands, and dramatically changes the chemistry of tidal freshwater wetlands. Although there always has been a swath of coastal land adapted to salt, interactions among sea-level rise, climate change and coastal water infrastructure (overuse of groundwater and surface water) is causing saltwater to reach further and further inland.

As our climate is changing we are seeing dramatic pictures of increases in storm driven flooding, and higher-amplitude tidal inundation associated with sea-level rise. The effects of saltwater intrusion on ecosystem services, has received less attention, probably because changes in water chemistry are invisible to the public. However, the addition of marine salt to previously freshwater systems have profound impacts not only on our drinking water systems but on ecosystem balance, leading to coastal forest loss, species replacements, reductions in agricultural productivity, declines in coastal water quality, and marsh migration.

Saltwater intrusion and the degree of upland salinization are driven by five main factors: the position of sea-level relative to the land and water table, the frequency and magnitude of storms and tides, the frequency and duration of drought, surface and groundwater water withdrawals for drinking water and irrigation, and hydrologic connectivity the presence of tide gates, levees, agricultural diversions, and reservoirs.

In the U.S., the Chesapeake Bay region is the third most vulnerable area to sea level rise, behind Louisiana (New Orleans) and southern Florida.  Our region’s coastal plain is subsiding along with sea level rising. Over the past 100 years, due to the combination of global sea level rise and regional land subsidence sea level has risen by approximately one foot within the Chesapeake Bay.  This combined with the low lying flat geography with increase saltwater intrusion and inundation.  

The Potomac Watershed of the Chesapeake Bay watershed has the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) to help manage the Washington metropolitan area water supply system by coordinating withdrawals from the Potomac River and off-river reservoirs and recommending releases from upstream reservoirs when forecasted flow in the river is not sufficient to meet expected needs and prevent saltwater intrusion. The river flow for this is measured at Little Falls dam near Washington, D.C. and must meet the water utilities demands and an environmental flow-by of 100 million gallons per day (MGD). Hopefully, this system will prevent the Washington Metropolitan Area from experiencing the same problems as New Orleans is facing right now.

Sea level rise is occurring and will continue to do so into the future. The salinity effects from sea level rise could potentially be mitigated to some extent but cannot be reversed. Coastal storms and associated flooding occur several times each year, but are increasing in intensity and frequency with each passing decade.  Depending on the intensity of coastal storms, salinity effects due to over wash of tidal waters onto land can last for several months. The frequency of droughts are expected to remain the same occurring every few years, but are expected to increase in duration causing worsened salinity impacts due to reduced freshwater flows during those times. However, those effects will reverse once precipitation returns to normal levels. Conversely, periods of excessive precipitation that we are also forecast to have will mitigate salinity impacts.

Tidal  saltwater intrusion is not are only salt problem. We are experiencing inland salinization and have had saltwater intrusion into the Potomac aquifer from overuse. The Potomac River and Occoquan Reservoir are experiencing salinization.  Analyses from three different studies at multiple locations have found increasing freshwater salinization in Northern Virginia and the Occoquan Reservoir. Regionally, as salt levels have risen, WSSC is seeing discolored water problems related to winter deicing when chloride levels were observed to spike from 40mg/L to 100 mg/L. Increasing chloride levels is from sodium chloride (salt) due to rising sea levels, increased direct and indirect potable reuse of wastewater, the increased amount of pavement and the salting of roads in the winter. Nearly all road salt is eventually washed into adjacent rivers, streams, and groundwater aquifers - road salt is considered the largest contributor to rising salt levels.  

The ICPRB, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission have joined together to develop a voluntary Salt Management Strategy published in 2020 to reduce the largest source of salt/ chloride to the Potomac, its tributaries and the Occoquan Watershed, but this alone may not slow the increasing salinization of our source water for drinking as road construction continues at an alarming pace. While trying to encourage the adoption of the voluntary salt management strategy, we keep building roads and paving over the county.

Road salt impacts not only potability of water, but also impact drinking water infrastructure in terms of lifetime and leaks. Water contamination is an emerging and increasing problem for both private well owners and municipal water suppliers. Salt, sodium chloride, spikes have caused changes in water chemistry triggering the lead in solder to be released into the water. Chloride is an aggressive ion that exacerbates corrosion, especially galvanic corrosion in hot water heaters and at solder points where pipes are joined.

Atmospheric River Envy

Last winter after three years of drought California experienced an unprecedented wet winter in Water Year 2023 with a deluge from what were described as 19 atmospherics rivers which made landfall in California. According to the California Department of Water Resources “Statewide the annual precipitation in water year 2023 totaled 33.56 inches, which is about 141% of the long-term (1901-2000)annual average precipitation statewide,” though rainfall varied across the state from 16.99 inches in Fresno to 78.92 inches in the gauge in Miranda and over 45 inches in Piedmont and Eureka.

“According to the April 1 snow survey, the statewide snowpack was at 237% of normal for the date and the deepest on record since the state’s network of snow sensors was established in the mid-1980s. The snowpack was so deep that it contained roughly 30 million acre -feet of water, or more water than 1.7 times the annual average groundwater use (about 18 million acre-feet)in California. The subsequent snowmelt runoff filled surface water reservoirs and caused historic flooding.” Though this was only a single wet winter. The state’s groundwater basins, which supply more than 40% of the state’s total water supply, in an average year, remain seriously depleted despite the wet winter because the groundwater basins require a much longer time frame to recover and through mismanagement of groundwater resources California has experienced land subsidence in many areas and the groundwater basins can never recover.

Here in Haymarket, Virginia we had a relatively dry winter and a very dry summer and fell into drought in August. Besides lawns turning brown (my lawn and my neighbors are either watered by rain or not at all) there were also signs of concern. The Bull Run Mountain Conservancy recorded that the perennial streams: Little Bull Run and Catlett’s Branch were dry. Catharpin Creek, another perennial stream, appeared to have been reduced to a series of puddles. Then September came, and my rain monitoring station recorded a series of intense storms that brought 13.57 inches of rain (and hail) most of it over a 4 day period. Because the area around my home is semi-rural and wooded, flooding was not a problem. The ground just drank up the water. We ended the water year on September 30th at over 45 inches of rainfall above the average of 44 inches per year. I was shocked to realize that Piedmont and I had about the same amount of rain. I experienced it as a dry year. Yet, the intense rains in September were very localized and the region remains abnormally dry, but my lawn is green.

Catlett's Branch from BRM Conservancy, M. Kieffer

Generally, groundwater in the Culpeper Basin is renewed each year through precipitation. The groundwater has always been able to feed the perennial streams during dry periods, but not this year. In the past, the water stored in the watershed has been able to provide adequate water in droughts because historically the withdrawal of water was within the average recharge rate. However, the only nearby US Geological Survey groundwater monitoring well is no longer stable. The fall seasonal lows have been getting lower and the recharge even in 2018, the wettest year on record, did not reach the level of recharge during the drought that occurred in 2007-8.

We appear to have a growing problem in this area. We need information to find out. Prince William County and Loudoun County need to engage the USGS and DEQ to study the groundwater in our region expanding on the study they have been performing for Fauquier County. Little is known about the sustainability of our groundwater basins, but potential problems can still be addressed before it is too late.

Groundwater models and data from more monitoring wells can help develop a picture of the volume of the water within the groundwater basin and at what rate it is being used and at what rate it is being recharged. We need to know if the current and planned use of our lands, groundwater and surface water is sustainable even in drought years. We need to understand how ground cover by roads, parking lots and buildings will impact groundwater recharge and what level of groundwater and surface water withdrawals are sustainable to determine if a proposed change in land use or additional use of water resources is sustainable before it is granted. Without coordinated and proactive management, the aquifers and rivers supplying our region will be depleted. Through mismanagement we can turn ourselves into California.

The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act & Allowed Development

Daniel Moore, Principal Environmental Planner from the Office of Watersheds and Local Government Assistance at DEQ (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality). Spoke to the Potomac Watershed Roundtable at our last meeting.

Mr. Moore, first went over a little history of efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay (the Bay). Through it’s history the Bay has played an important role in Virginia and the region by providing valuable economic, environmental and recreational resources. However, the health of the Bay began to decline in the 1950s, when underwater grasses started to disappear, and fish and shellfish populations decreased. The deteriorating water quality of the Bay is caused by pollution, which can be divided into two categories: point source pollution and non-point source pollution.

In 1986-1987 Virginia formed the Chesapeake Bay Land Use Roundtable to address the deterioration of water quality and damage to aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay. The group realized that Virginia needed to address non-point source pollution into the Bay. In 1988, Virginia's General Assembly enacted the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (Bay Act) to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary streams.

The Bay Act created a cooperative program between the Commonwealth of Virginia and 86 local governments to protect and enhance water quality through environmentally responsible land use management. Each local government created local land use requirements and ordinances which seek to minimize the non-point sources of pollution into the Bay.

The regulations for the Bay Act were created in 1991and subsequently amended in 2001 and 2014 step by step tightening the requirements to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution carried in stormwater from reaching the Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act in Virginia was amended in 2001 to expand the Resource Protection Areas of the Act to all tidal wetlands, tidal shore, perennial flow bodies of water, non-tidal wetlands connected and contiguous to tidal wetlands and buffer lands within 100 feet of any of those features. All other areas of the Tidewater were named Resource Management Areas as was all of Prince William County.

Under the Bay Act all localities are required to identify and map RPA’s as part of their local Bay Act programs. Resource Management Areas (RMAs) are defined as lands that, if improperly developed, may result in substantial damage to the water quality of the Bay and its tributaries. The zoning maps of each locality are required to show the general boundaries of the RMA. Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) are vegetated areas along water bodies, such as lakes, streams, rivers, marshes or shoreline, also known as riparian buffers. These buffers are RPAs under the Bay Act. RPAs include the land area within 100 feet of a perennial stream bank or edge of wetlands adjacent to the perennial stream. RPA areas are protected under state law and local ordinances. In general, no development, land disturbance, or vegetation removal is allowed in an RPA. RPAs were designated along all perennial streams in Prince William County.

 
Current regulations prevent further development of RPA lands beyond minor additions to existing residences and structures and impose broad standards for septic regulations. A Water Quality Impact Assessment (WQIA) is required for any development or redevelopment proposed within an RPA, or for modification (clearing, grading, etc.) of any portion of the 100-foot RPA buffer greater than 2,500 square feet. The Bay Act also requires that all septic systems within a RMA be pumped out at least once every five years. This applies to all existing homes and businesses, as well as new development. In addition, a reserve septic drain field is required for all new development. Requirements for maintenance of existing septic systems are necessary to protect ground water quality, and also protect the water quality of the Bay.

In their natural condition, RPAs protect water quality, filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, reduce the volume of stormwater runoff, prevent erosion, and perform other important biological and ecological functions. As such the goals of the Bay Act ordinances are to minimize land disturbance, preserve indigenous vegetation, minimize impervious cover, assure compliance with Virginia stormwater regulations and septic regulations, and assure that any agricultural disturbance have a conservation assessment.

   

A lot of what Mr. Moore does is make sure that the local programs meet the requirements of the regulations and that the locality has an adequate and appropriate review process.