West Virginia Code 22-22-7 – Voluntary remediation agreement; required use of licensed remediation specialist; required provisions of a voluntary remediation agreement; failure to reach agreement; appeal to the environmental quality board; no enforce…
Upon acceptance of an application, the director shall enter into an agreement with the applicant for the remediation of the site which sets forth the following:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-22-7
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- contamination: means any man made or man induced alteration of the chemical, physical or biological integrity of soils, sediments, air and surface water or groundwater resulting from activities regulated under this article, in excess of applicable standards in this chapter, including any hazardous substance, petroleum, or natural gas. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Director: means the director of the Division of Environmental Protection or such other person to whom the director has delegated authority or duties pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Division: means the Division of Environmental Protection of the State of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Licensed remediation specialist: means a person certified by the director pursuant to rules adopted under section three of this article as qualified to perform professional services and to supervise the remediation of contaminated sites. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
- Person: means any public or private corporation, institution, association, firm or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Remediation: means to cleanup, mitigate, correct, abate, minimize, eliminate, control and contain or prevent a release of a contaminant into the environment in order to protect the present or future public health, safety, welfare, or the environment, including preliminary actions to study or assess the release. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Site: means any property or portion thereof which contains or may contain contaminants and is eligible for remediation as provided under this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Voluntary remediation: means a series of measures that may be self-initiated by a person to identify and address potential sources of contamination of property and to establish that the property complies with applicable remediation standards. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
(a) A person desiring to participate in the voluntary remediation program must enter into a voluntary remediation agreement that sets forth the terms and conditions of the evaluation of the reports and the implementation of work plans;
(b) Any voluntary remediation agreement approved by the director shall provide for the services of a licensed remediation specialist for supervision of all activities described in the agreement;
(c) A voluntary remediation agreement must provide for cost recovery of all reasonable costs incurred by the division in review and oversight of the person's work plan and reports as a result of field activities or attributable to the voluntary remediation agreement, which are in excess of the fees submitted by the applicant along with a schedule of payments; appropriate tasks, deliverables and schedules for performance of the remediation; a listing of all statutes and rules for which compliance is mandated; a description of any work plan or report to be submitted for review by the director, including a final report that provides all information necessary to verify that all work contemplated by the agreement has been completed; the licensed remediation specialist's supervision of remediation contractors; and a listing of the technical standards to be applied in evaluating the work plans and reports, with reference to the proposed future land use to be achieved. The voluntary remediation agreement may also provide for alternate dispute resolutions between the parties to the agreement, including, but not limited to, arbitration or mediation of any disputes under this agreement;
(d) No voluntary remediation agreement may be modified or amended, unless the amendment or modification is reduced to writing and mutually agreed upon by the parties to the agreement: Provided, That when the director determines that there is an imminent threat to the public, he or she may unilaterally modify or amend the agreement;
(e) Upon acceptance of an application, the director and the applicant shall develop a remediation agreement. If an agreement is not reached between the applicant and the director on or before the thirty-first day after the application has been accepted, either party may withdraw from negotiations. Should this occur, the agency retains the application fee. The applicant may appeal the failure to reach agreement to the environmental quality board as established under article three, chapter twenty-two-b of this code. By mutual agreement, when it becomes impractical to reach an agreement within thirty-one days, the time limit may be extended in writing; and
(f) The division may not initiate an enforcement action against a person who is in compliance with this section for the contamination that is the subject of the voluntary remediation agreement or for the activity that resulted in the contamination, unless there is an imminent threat to the public.