West Virginia Code 22-18-2 – Declaration of policy
(a) The Legislature finds that:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-18-2
- Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air, or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
- Hazardous waste: means a waste or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may: (A) Cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: means the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 90 Stat. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Storage: means the containment of hazardous waste, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous waste. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
- Subtitle C: means Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
- Treatment: means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery, amenable to storage or reduced in volume. See West Virginia Code 22-18-3
(1) Continuing technological progress and increases in the amount of manufacture and the abatement of air and water pollution have resulted in ever increasing quantities of hazardous wastes;
(2) The public health and safety and the environment are threatened where hazardous wastes are not managed in an environmentally sound manner;
(3) The knowledge and technology necessary for alleviating adverse health, environmental and aesthetic impacts resulting from current hazardous waste management and disposal practices are generally available;
(4) The manufacture, refinement, processing, treatment and use of coal, raw chemicals, ores, petroleum, gas and other natural and synthetic products are activities that make a significant contribution to the economy of this state; and
(5) The problem of managing hazardous wastes has become a matter of statewide concern.
(b) Therefore, it is hereby declared that the purposes of this article are:
(1) To protect the public health and safety and the environment from the effects of the improper, inadequate or unsound management of hazardous wastes;
(2) To establish a program of regulation over the storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes;
(3) To assure the safe and adequate management of hazardous wastes within this state; and
(4) To assume regulatory primacy through Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.