Senate Bill No. 217
(By Senator Bowman)
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[Introduced January 23, 2003; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-two, article fifteen,
chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to including
water treatment plant sludge within the group of materials
determined by the secretary of the department of environmental
protection to have beneficial properties similar to sewage
sludge.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two, article fifteen, chapter twenty-two
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT.
§22-15-22. Sludge management.
(a) Any sludge or other material determined by the secretary
to have beneficial properties similar to sewage sludge, including water treatment plant sludge, may be beneficially used in
accordance with the applicable requirements governing sewage
sludge, and any other requirements determined to be necessary by
the secretary to protect human health and the environment. Persons
seeking to beneficially use sludge must meet the requirements of
this article and the rules promulgated thereunder.
(b) In order to enhance the resource recovery and recycling
goals of this act and to encourage the beneficial use of sludge or
other materials, the secretary shall propose for promulgation in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code, emergency and legislative rules to
effectuate the purposes of this section. The secretary shall at a
minimum include the following in the proposed rules:
(1) A mechanism to determine beneficial use characteristics;
(2) A method to determine pollutant content of the material
proposed for beneficial use;
(3) A method to determine that the beneficial properties of
the material are derived from the raw material rather than
additives;
(4) Buffer zones or other criteria necessary to adequately
protect ground and surface water;
(5) Necessary restrictions of pollutant levels in the
material;
(6) Analytical methods, loading rates and storage requirements for the material;
(7) Permit requirements; and
(8) Appropriate fees.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include water treatment
plant sludge within the materials considered to have beneficial
uses similar to sewage sludge.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.