Sec. 21-2. Partial exemption of certified pollution control equipment and facilities.

(a)   Certified pollution control equipment and facilities, as defined herein, are hereby declared to be a separate class of property and shall constitute a classification for local taxation separate from other such classification of real or personal property and such property shall be partially exempt from local taxation. Certified pollution control equipment and facilities consisting of equipment used in collecting, processing, and distributing or generating electricity from landfill gas or synthetic or natural gas recovered from waste, including equipment used to grind, chip, or mulch trees, tree stumps, underbrush, and other vegetative cover for reuse as landfill gas or synthetic or natural gas recovered from waste, placed in service on or after July 1, 2006, shall be exempt from local taxation pursuant to subsection d of Section 6 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia.

(b)   As used in this section, the term “certified pollution control equipment and facilities” shall be deemed to mean any property, including real or personal property, equipment, facilities or devices used primarily for the purpose of abating or preventing pollution of the atmosphere or waters of the commonwealth and which property the state certifying authority having jurisdiction with respect to such property has certified to the state department of taxation as having been constructed, reconstructed, erected or acquired in conformity with the state program or requirements for abatement or control of water or atmospheric pollution or contamination. As used in this section, the term “state certifying authority” shall be deemed to mean the State Water Control Board, for water pollution, and the State Air Pollution Control Board, for air pollution, the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, for coal, oil, and gas production; and the Virginia Waste Management Board, for waste disposal, landfill gas, and synthetic or natural gas recovery from waste facilities, and shall include any interstate agency authorized to act in a place of a certifying authority of the state.

(c)  Certified pollution control equipment and facilities, as defined herein, excluding such equipment and facilities owned by public service corporations, as defined by section 56-2, Code of Virginia, shall be taxed, beginning January 1, 1979, and thereafter, at the current tax rate on machinery and tools for the calendar year appearing in Column 1 below multiplied by the percentage figure listed in Column 2 below. In accordance with section 58-514.2, Code of Virginia, certified pollution control equipment and facilities, as defined herein, owned by public service corporations shall be taxed, beginning January 1, 1979, and thereafter at the current tax rate on real estate for the calendar year appearing in Column 1 below multiplied by the percentage figure listed in Column 2 below: