Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 22 > Article 14 - Dam Control Act

• 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.
• Application for a certificate of approval: means the written application provided to the secretary requesting that a person be issued a certificate of approval. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Appurtenant works: means any structure or facility that is an adjunct of, or connected, appended or annexed to, a dam, including, but not limited to, spillways, a reservoir and its rim, low-level outlet works or water conduits such as tunnels, pipelines and penstocks either through the dam or its abutments. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Authority: means the Water Development Authority provided in section four, article one, chapter . See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Certificate of approval: means the written approval issued by the secretary to a person who has applied to the secretary for a certificate of approval that authorizes the person to place, construct, enlarge, alter, repair or remove a dam and specifies the conditions or limitations under which the work is to be performed by that person. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Dam: means an artificial barrier or obstruction, including any works appurtenant to it and any reservoir created by it, which is or will be placed, constructed, enlarged, altered or repaired so that it does or will impound or divert water and:

  (A) Is or will be twenty-five feet or more in height from the natural bed of the stream or watercourse measured at the downstream toe of the barrier and which does or can impound fifteen acre-feet or more of water. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Deficient dam: means a noncoal-related dam that exhibits one or more design, maintenance or operational problems that may adversely affect the performance of the dam over a period of time or during a major storm or other inclement weather that may cause loss of life or property. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Director: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection or his or her designee. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
• Enlargement: means any change in or addition to an existing dam which: (1) Raises the height of the dam. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Natural Resources Conservation Service: means the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture or any successor or predecessor agency, including the Soil Conservation Service. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Noncompliant dam owner: means an owner who has received two or more orders to repair or remove a deficient dam without completion of the repairs or removal within time frames established by the secretary. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office: means any office, division, board, agency, unit, organizational entity or component thereof within the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any person who:

  (1) Holds legal possession, ownership or partial ownership of an interest in a dam, its appurtenant works or the real property the dam is situated upon. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3

• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any public or private corporation, institution, association, society, firm, organization or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• repairs: means only those changes in the structure or integrity of a dam that may affect its safety to be determined by the secretary. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Reservoir: means any basin which contains or will contain impounded water. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Water: means any liquid, including any solids or other matter that may be contained in the liquid, which is or may be impounded by a dam. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3
• Water storage elevation: means the maximum elevation that water can reach behind a dam without encroaching on the freeboard approved for the dam under flood conditions. See West Virginia Code 22-14-3