Virginia Tech
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

The following information was provided by Jon Clark Teglas, Chief Of Staff to the Vice President for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities, jcteglas@vt.edu, 540-231-6291

The Board of Visitors also approves university appointments to the Blacksburg-Virginia Polytechnic Institute Sanitation Authority, the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority, and the New River Valley Water Authority. These authorities position the institution to engage in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the municipal/local level, including the issues, legislation, and ordinances for or against which the institution has advocated.

Blacksburg-Virginia Polytechnic Institute Sanitation Authority

The Blacksburg-Virginia Polytechnic Institute Sanitation Authority was created January 30, 1962, pursuant to the Virginia Water and Sewer Authorities Act, Code of Virginia (1950, as amended) for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a sewer disposal system for the participating entities, which include the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. The Authority’s Board consists of five members. The Town of Blacksburg and the Board of Visitors of Virginia Tech each appoint one member to the Board; the remaining three members are jointly appointed by the two entities.

Key Developments
- Decommissioning of a late 1970 Fluid Bed Incinerator used for the sewage solid disposal and the construction of the first Autothermal Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion (ATAD) Biosolids Treatment Process in the state of Virginia.
- The development of a Hydraulic Sanitary Sewer model for the Sanitation Authority’s owned sewers which consists of approximately 13 miles of line and 225 manholes. Monitoring data from this program will address future volume capacity.
- Development of a twenty (20) year Capital Plan and Financial Forecast. This Financial Forecast will provide management and the Board of Directors with tools to regularly evaluate the fiscal impact of operational and capital decisions, as well as the necessary rates for sewage treatment.

Current Initiatives
- Replace the facility’s aging main power electrical distribution controls and equipment.
- Replacement of the aging biological aeration control system.
- Replacement of two Arkemedia influent pumps (15 million gallon capacity each).
- Interceptor rehabilitation for the reduction of inflow & infiltration.
- Improvements to the administration building, which includes replacement of the aging heating and cooling system.

Virginia Tech Representative during reporting years:
Christopher H. Kiwus, Vice President for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities

Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority

The Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority (MRSWA) was formed in July 1995 to handle integrated solid waste management for Montgomery County, the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and Virginia Tech. MRSWA’s mission is to progressively manage solid waste and recyclable materials in an environmentally safe, reliable, and efficient manner. Current services provided to the member entities include: closed landfill management, operation of a transfer station, and recycling. MRSWA works closely with the New River Resource Authority (NRRA), which serves as the regional, state permitted landfill facility. Other NRRA member entities include the counties of Giles and Pulaski and the City of Radford.

Key Recent Developments
- Landfill-gas-to-energy facility contract extension
- Household hazardous waste permit/facility
- Construction of pH/chloride building at pretreatment facility
- Single stream recycling roll-out
o Single stream tonnage increase of 33% / Recycling tonnage increase of 15%

Current Initiatives
- Add green energy project at closed landfill (solar panels)
- Ensure compliance with facility permits
- Market existing dual stream recycling equipment
- Move single stream trans-loading from transfer station to recycling facility
- Renovate transfer station
- Renovate education / training room

Virginia Tech Representative during reporting years:
Christopher H. Kiwus, Vice President for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities

New River Valley Regional Water Authority

In the late 1920’s, the water supply for Blacksburg and Virginia Tech became a matter of grave concern, as the water demands of both entities continued to rise. In 1950, the Virginia legislature passed the Water and Waste Authorities Act (§15.2-5100), enabling Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, and Christiansburg to cooperate in securing the needed water supply for all constituents. After several engineering investigations into nearby springs and wells, it was determined that the New River was the most practical water source for the area. The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-V.P.I. Water Authority was chartered by the State Corporation Commission on September 15, 1954. Since that time, many improvements have been made to the Authority’s water treatment and distribution system, including expansion of the filtration plant, addition of transmission lines, and plant modernization and efficiency efforts. Montgomery County joined the Authority on July 1, 2013, following an extensive joinder study and review process by the County and current participants. During these membership revisions, the entity was renamed to the NRV Regional Water Authority. The current Board of Directors is composed of one representative from each participating entity and one at-large member, jointly appointed by all participating entities.

Key Recent Developments
- The development and ratification of the Authority’s procurement policy manual.
- The development and ratification of the Regional Mutual Aid Agreement, which details how Authority members assist the Authority in times of emergency and compensation for those services.
- Cooperative effort to educate the Authority member political bodies of the long-range needs of the Authority, which have resulted in approximately $40 million dollars of capital improvement projects, enabling the Authority sustain adequate water supply to the region.

Current Initiatives
- Upgrade the Authority’s water treatment plant (approx. $45 million project).
- Design and construct the Prices Fork and Plum Creek Transmission Mains, projects recommended by the Joinder study to provide redundant service to Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, and Christiansburg and connect county water systems to those of the Authority.
- Long-range planning for repair and replacement of the Authority’s existing transmission lines.
- Continue development of the system’s water model to evaluate distribution, assess water quality, and identify actions to continue supply of high quality water in the region.

Virginia Tech Representative during reporting years:
Christopher H. Kiwus, Vice President for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities

------

The following information was provided by Carol Davis, Sustainability Manager for the Town of Blacksburg, CDavis@blacksburg.gov, 540-443-1617

The Town of Blacksburg’s Sustainability Manager convened an advisory team made up of topic-area experts in an array of disciplines at the university. This all-volunteer team of experts, fourteen of whom were Virginia Tech faculty, lent their expertise and time to the development of Blacksburg’s recently completed Climate Vulnerability Assessment. The advisory team specifically helped the Town evaluate how anticipated changes to the local climate are likely to impact the following critical community systems: food security, human health & wellbeing, population displacement, public safety, agriculture & farming, ecosystem services, forestlands, hydrology & watersheds, species shift and invasive species, emergency services, energy access and delivery, stormwater infrastructure, transportation systems, water supply, and water/wastewater infrastructure. Key findings from the Climate Vulnerability Assessment have since been integrated into Blacksburg’s Comprehensive Plan, which guides all future land use development, infrastructure investments, as well as community programs and municipal services. When forming the Climate Vulnerability Assessment advisory team, the Town of Blacksburg Sustainability Manager, Carol Davis, set up a meeting with the leadership of the VT Global Change Center to explore if there were faculty affiliated with the Center who would be available and willing to lend their expertise to the effort. Ultimately, well over half of the VT faculty that subsequently joined the CVA advisory team came through the VT Global Change Center with the Center's support. The partnership between Carol Davis and the VT Global Change Center began in June of 2019 and extended throughout the following year, with advisory meetings being held consistently during that time. The Director of the VT Global Change Center expressed his support for the effort that members of the Center were putting towards this collaborative Climate Vulnerability Assessment.

Key findings from Blacksburg’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment have since been used to help inform the New River Valley Regional Commission’s 2023 update to the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. This is the first time climate vulnerability has been considered as an amplifying factor for known hazards in the region.

The University has also continued to partner with the Town of Blacksburg on other findings from the Climate Vulnerability Assessment, particularly around anticipated changes to food systems. The VT Center for Food Systems & Community Transformation has dedicated significant faculty and student resources toward exploring policy responses to food security in

the context of a changing climate. One student, Kasey Owen, made this the focus of her Master’s Thesis and co-presented with the Town of Blacksburg on shared findings and policy implications to an audience of more than 100 participants in the fall of 2023. An attendee of that presentation affiliated with Ohio State University reached out to invite the Town of Blacksburg to come present on its Climate Vulnerability Assessment journey as it relates to food system resiliency planning at an Urban Food System Symposium scheduled for May 2024. Additional groundbreaking working is also being pursued by the VT Center for Food Systems & Community Transformation in the form of a grant-funded project, led by Dr. Lia Kelinsky-Jones, (USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow in Agricultural, Leadership and Community Education) to evaluate and develop climate-adaptive policies and capacities in the Appalachian region through an agro-ecological lens. This multi-state project got underway in late 2023 and will conclude in late 2025/early 2026.

On a local policy level, the Town of Blacksburg is already using findings from the Climate Vulnerability Assessment to help shape a major redevelopment project in the heart of the downtown Blacksburg: adjusting the project’s design for stormwater management to accommodate changes in precipitation due to climate change.

The Climate Vulnerability Assessment is also being actively for educational purposes. Carol Davis, the Sustainability Manager for the Town of Blacksburg, frequently presents the Climate Vulnerability Assessment to student groups, VT classes, and local community groups. Most recently, Carol presented the Assessment to the Montgomery County-Radford City-Floyd County Branch of the NAACP's Environmental and Climate Justice Committee.

Blacksburg’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment Report can be viewed here: https://www.blacksburg.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=9911 On the acknowledgements page (page 41) you will find the members of the Advisory Team. Their respective areas of expertise are listed next to their name. Many of these members can be cross listed with affiliated faculty from the VT Global Change Center: https://www.globalchange.vt.edu/affiliated-faculty/

More information on the VT Global Change Center is available here: https://www.globalchange.vt.edu/

The Town of Blacksburg Climate Vulnerability Assessment served and continues to serve as guiding documents for policy decisions and is frequently referenced by the Town for planning and development purposes. The effort put forth by both members of the Town and members of the Virginia Tech community will benefit the local community and help the Town of Blacksburg grow in an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable way.

The above information was provided by Carol Davis, Sustainability Manager for the Town of Blacksburg, CDavis@blacksburg.gov, 540-443-1617

------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Efforts and Other Notes:

- Brush Mountain Forestland Concept Plan: Virginia Tech faculty assisted the Town of Blacksburg in development of a Concept Plan for two large properties, totaling more than 500 acres, which were donated to the Town in 2018. These two steeply sloped and forested properties provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Blacksburg to more than double its parkland, however, the Town had no prior experience managing large swaths of forests. Two VT faculty members generously lent their expertise in forest ecosystems and public engagement on natural resource management, specifically to help develop content for the chapter on Environmental Stewardship, Management, and Nature-Based Education & Research in the Brush Mountain Forestland Concept Plan. These policy recommendations provide a roadmap for the Town to responsibly develop a network of natural-surface trails for public recreational use while preserving and restoring the ecological value of these forest landscapes.

The Concept Plan for Brush Mountain can be viewed here: https://letstalkblacksburg.org/7979/widgets/25383/documents/15638/download

Innovation Campus

Innovation Campus

Virginia Tech is in the process of planning for the development of a significant campus in Alexandria, Virginia, that will redevelop part of this important community. The university’s presence will serve as the foundation of the redevelopment, and we are leading by example in ensuring that the design and components of the building are leading in the area of sustainability. As part of this project, we purposefully chose a location close to a future stop of the Metro (mass transit rail) to reduce the need for people to travel in cars. We completed work with the City and others to have the university’s name be included in the name of the Metro station.

The Virginia Tech Office of Sustainability participated in the design review process for this new campus. Additionally, substantial efforts are being made to meet not only Virginia Tech's strict requirements for sustainability in regards to new buildings, but the City of Alexandria's codes and standards are being met as well. The Innovation Campus is a LEED project and it has required extensive cooperation with the City of Alexandria to meet all sustainability and efficiency requirements.

Lastly, a partnership was created between the City and Virginia Tech to develop a university pass system, which would create an affordable travel option for students, staff, and faculty who are part of the innovation campus. This reduces reliance on single-occupancy vehicles and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from commuting.

More information on the Innovation Campus can be found here: https://vt.edu/innovationcampus/about.html

This article highlights the central focus of sustainability in building design on the Innovation Campus: https://vt.edu/innovationcampus/News/2020/04/campus-design-rendering.html

Chris Yianilos, chrisyianilos@vt.edu, Vice President, Government and Community Relations, Office of the President, 571-858-3005 Water Quality Public Arts (Storm Drain Murals and 16 Frogs Project):


Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and student have assisted the Town of Blacksburg with an array of community sustainability programs and public policy initiatives over the years. Since the last STARS submission in 2021, Virginia Tech has continued and deepened its sustainability partnership in the following arenas:

- Water Quality Public Arts (Storm Drain Murals and 16 Frogs Project): Starting in 2018, the Town of Blacksburg was interested in using public art to engage the community on the health and history of the Town's local waterways, specifically to adorn storm drains around the community with murals that touch upon critical themes of watershed ecology, healthy riparian and aquatic ecosystems, and public education to identify and select four design concepts and local artists to paint these murals and since its inception, Virginia Tech students and faculty have stepped up to submit their design concepts. Now in its third year, the storm drain mural project has highlighted the work of several Virginia Tech undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty who were selected to execute their designs. In addition to the Storm Drain Mural project, Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students have been heavily involved in the development of historical and ecological content for the project website and engagement materials. More recently, Virginia Tech School of Visual Arts students and faculty assisted the 16 Frogs project by designing a FrogFinder Guide. This guide enables residents and visitors to embark on a self-guided tour to find all of the 16 bronze frog statuettes, each of which has been strategically placed to call attention to the fresh water flowing under and around the streets and buildings of Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech campus.

Details and videos related to the Storm Drain Mural Project can be viewed here: https://www.blacksburg.gov/departments/departments-l-z/sustainability/water-quality-public-arts-projects
Additional detail on the 16 Frogs Project can be viewed here: https://16frogs.org/

The 16 Frogs FrogFinder Guide can be viewed here: https://16frogs.org/assets/16Frogs-FrogFinder.pdf

Heritage Park Riparian Restoration Project

Back in 2000, the Town of Blacksburg acquired a 169 parcel of farmland to create Heritage Community Park and Natural Area, which includes a 3,100-foot section of Toms Creek. In 2012, the VA DEQ listed Toms Creek as an impaired waterway due to elevated temperatures, primarily due to loss of riparian tree canopy. The banks of Toms Creek are also steep and significantly eroded, which has diminished the stream’s hydrological connection to the adjacent floodplain.

From the beginning, the community expressed a strong desire for the landscape in this new park to be minimally altered, retaining the majority of the fields, forests, wetlands, and water features in a natural state. Unfortunately, in the years since the Town of Blacksburg acquired the land, this “hands off” approach has allowed the park to become heavily inundated with invasive plants, particularly short-stature invasive species that have overtaken the riparian buffer on both sides of Toms Creek. These short-stature invasive species are unable to shade the full span of the waterway, contributing to its temperature impairment while also reducing habitat and food sources for native wildlife.

In recent years, researchers from Virginia Tech’s Invasive Species Working Group concluded a 2-year study documenting the concerning decline in biodiversity at Heritage Park due to the rapid takeover of invasive plant species, or as one member of the research team put it, “The place is bursting with flora, but not a lot of fauna”.

At that point, the Town recognized that a new approach would be needed to effectively address this accelerating decline of biodiversity in Heritage Park. The Town of Blacksburg sought expert guidance from the Virginia Tech Stream Research, Education and Management (StREAM) Lab to build on the initial findings of the VT Invasive Species Working Group to develop a multi-year action plan to restore biodiversity and ecological integrity in Heritage Park. Faculty affiliated with the VT Invasive Species Working Group and StREAM Lab have respectively offered to provide ongoing technical support to this ambitious restoration project including:

· Helping the Town identify key metrics of biodiversity, and methodologies to track them over time to identify future interventions that will increase the long-term success of the project’s goals and objectives.

· Co-creating a process to utilize university service learning and community-based citizen science approaches to sustain site monitoring and data tracking of key metrics over time.

· Collaborating with VT Cooperative Extension to develop a targeted outreach program geared toward private landowners to demonstrate both the value of and process to effectively remove invasives and re-establish native riparian vegetation.

· Using the Heritage Park project area as a potential comparison site for the 27+ university classes that use the StREAM Lab for applied research and instruction.

· Faculty/student assistance securing aerial drone remote sensing data with StREAM Lab equipment to document the project’s progress and aide in monitoring the project site. The slate of current Sustainability through the Seasons events can be viewed here: https://sustainableblacksburgva.org/sustainability-through-the-seasons/

The following information was provided by Carol Davis, Sustainability Manager for the Town of Blacksburg, CDavis@blacksburg.gov, 540-443-1617

Carol Davis, Town of Blacksburg, CDavis@blacksburg.gov

During the 2023 General Assembly Session, year we worked on HB 2393 which is a bill that authorized the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and all relevant agencies, when setting coastal resilience policies, to seek input and consultation from the Commonwealth's research university collaborative, including the Virginia Coastal Policy Center, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience.

Basically, the bill allows the Secretary to access the university expertise, research, and data analysis for the implementation of water management techniques and coastal resilience strategies. We made sure that Virginia Cooperative Extension was included. Before the legislation was enacted, the Secretary (and therefore, the Governor) really couldn’t access a lot of the work and information that was out there.

The patron of the bill, Delegate Keith Hodges, wanted there to be more collaboration among the agencies and institutions of higher education. The bill encourages all of us to work together to solve water management and coastal flooding/resiliency issues.

Elizabeth G. Hooper, Associate Vice President, Office of Government and Community Relations, in the Office of the President, Virginia Tech-VPI & SU, 11 South 12th Street, Suite 302, Richmond, Virginia 23219, telephone (804)-786-1604 office, ehooper@vt.edu.

The University supports increased funding for the Department of Energy’s research programs, including efforts to enhance rare earth elements research, promoting nuclear energy safety through research, and through research on reducing construction impacts on the environment through the use of natural soils.

The University supports energy efficiency research funding and programs at the Department of Energy.

The University advocates for transportation research dollars, and advocates for research on autonomous vehicles, which can reduce traffic, congestion, and pollution. We also support drone research, which may be able to help reduce the number of commercial vehicles on the roadway, thus reducing traffic, congestion, and pollution.

Virginia Tech also works closely with the US Department of Agriculture and supports USDA research funding and sustainability efforts. Virginia Tech recently was awarded an $80 million grant – the largest in the history of the university. The grant will enable Virginia Tech to help farmers implement climate smart initiatives that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

These are just some of the many national initiatives Virginia Tech supports, but they are illustrative of our policy engagement in this area. Chris Yianilos, chrisyianilos@vt.edu, Vice President, Government and Community Relations, Office of the President, 571-858-3005

2023 United Nations COP

Two faculty members and seven students attended the 2023 United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai in December 2023. The delegation was led by faculty member Carol Franco who said of the experience “This is the only opportunity where you're going to have 198 countries together in the same place for two weeks, and you're exposed to talking to all those government officials,” Franco said. “They're all there. You can approach them, including the ones from the United States. You can talk to them, and they can tell you what they're thinking, so you have all these countries at your disposal. You have all these resources, all these NGOs [nongovernment organizations], all the other organizations that are ready to have you in their workforce, but you also get to understand why all the issues are so complicated.” Franco encouraged the students to not just absorb the relevant information, but also act as active participants. Both the students and faculty asked hard questions to government leaders, academics, and UN officials about climate change mitigation strategies.

The delegation included international students and first-generation college students who were being exposed to the international conference for the first time. As one student, Shruti Punjabi, said reflecting on the trip “My Ph.D. is international. It’s not a U.S. specific or a country specific project. It's more conceptualized, vision-based, and it's more international. I thought going to an international platform and just understanding perspectives of different countries and different civil society organizations, international organizations would be a good start for me to get my hands dirty”

More information on VT's participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference can be found here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/01/CM-COP28-CNRE-2024.html 2023 United Nations Water Conference

A delegation of Virginia Tech faculty and students attended the 2023 United Nations Water Conference in New York City in March 2023. The annual meeting of governments, scientists, activists, and nongovernmental organizations to assess progress in dealing with water conservation and climate change mitigation strategies. Virginia Tech was one of only 22 academic institutions in the United States invited to attend. The delegation was led by Faculty member Ralph Hall and graduate student Yugasha Bakshi who took an additional six researchers to join them.

A central aim of this year's conference was to create a new United Nations panel on water that would oversee international policy on water rights, water management, and water justice.

More information on VT's participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference can be found here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/04/-left-me-with-hope---virginia-tech-researchers-reflect-on-waters.html.

USAID Research

Virginia Tech is a recipient and support of funding for the US Agency for International Development. With funds we receive from USAID, Virginia Tech helps developing countries advance environmentally sustainable pest management approaches that help provide agricultural security in a more environmentally friendly way. Chris Yianilos, chrisyianilos@vt.edu, Vice President, Government and Community Relations, Office of the President, 571-858-3005

Local level: Jon Clark Teglas, Chief Of Staff to the Vice President for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities, jcteglas@vt.edu, 540-231-6291 AND
Carol Davis, Sustainability Manager, Town of Blacksburg, (540) 558-0786, CDavis@blacksburg.gov

State level: Elizabeth G. Hooper, Director of State Government Relations, Office of the President, Virginia Tech-VPI & SU, 11 South 12th Street, Suite 302, Richmond, Virginia 23219, telephone (804)-786-1604 office, ehooper@vt.edu.

National and International levels: Christopher Yianilos, Executive Director Government Relations, telephone (571) 858-3005, chrisyianilos@vt.edu.