2011 Vermont Code
Title 06 Agriculture
Chapter 215 AGRICULTURAL WATER QUALITY
§ 4826 Cost assistance for waste storage facilities

§ 4826. Cost assistance for waste storage facilities

(a) The owner or operator of a farm required under section 4815 of this title to design, construct, or modify a waste storage facility may apply in writing to the secretary of agriculture, food and markets for cost assistance. Using state or federal funds or both, a state assistance grant shall be awarded, subject to the availability of funds, to applicants. Such grants shall not exceed 85 percent of the cost of an adequately sized and designed waste storage facility and the equipment eligible for Natural Resources Conservation Service cost share assistance. Application for a state assistance grant shall be made in the manner prescribed by the secretary. For purposes of this section, "waste storage facility" means an impoundment made for the purpose of storing agricultural waste by constructing an embankment, excavating a pit or dugout, fabricating an in-ground or above-ground structure, or any combination thereof. This section does not apply to concrete slabs used for agricultural

waste management.

(b) If the secretary lacks adequate funds necessary for the cost assistance awards required by subsection (a) of this section, the secretary shall appear before the emergency board, as soon as possible, and shall request that necessary funds be provided. If the emergency board fails to provide adequate funds, the design and construction requirements for waste storage facilities under subsection 4815(b) of this title and the AAPs for groundwater, as they relate to a waste storage facility, shall be suspended for a farm with a waste storage facility subject to the requirements of subsection 4815(b) of this title until adequate funding becomes available. Suspension of the design and construction requirements of subsection 4815(b) of this title does not relieve an owner or operator of a farm permitted under section 4858 of this title from the remaining requirements of the owner's or operator's permit, including discharge standards, groundwater protection, nutrient management planning, a

nd land application of manure. This subsection does not apply to farms permitted under section 1263 of Title 10 or farms permitted under section 4851 of this title. (Added 2005, No. 78, { 5, eff. June 24, 2005.)