Virginia's environmental laws are available on the General Assembly's Legislative Information System website. The Laws page provides a list of links for information on the LIS website.
DEQ develops regulations for approval by Virginia's citizen regulatory boards that cover a wide variety of air, water and land protection issues. Regulations are intended to to implement specific efforts directed by the Commonwealth's environmental laws. The adoption, change or repeal of any regulation usually is conducted in accordance with the Virginia Administrative Process Act and with the agency's public participation guidelines.
Three regulatory boards – the Air Pollution Control Board, the State Water Control Board and the Waste Management Board – composed of Virginia citizens appointed by the Governor, are responsible for adopting many of Virginia's environmental regulations. DEQ administers the regulations as approved by the boards.
The regulatory adoption process, which can take more than a year to complete, includes several steps. In most cases, these steps are required under the Administrative Process Act.
At the request of the General Assembly, DEQ frequently produces reports that cover specific environmental topics. These reports are listed by the year they were submitted.