COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 616
(By Senators Ross, Love, Weeks and Edgell)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 1, 2004.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §22-1-9 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new section designated §22-3-33, all relating to the
department of environmental protection generally; increasing
the membership of the environmental protection advisory
council; requiring that a meeting of the advisory council be
called upon the written request of four members; requiring
that the council timely receive an agenda and related
materials for each meeting; allowing council members to submit
rule-making suggestions to the secretary for consideration;
establishing a new quality assurance and compliance advisory
committee; and authorizing the committee to review coal mining
permit procedures and processes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-1-9 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated §22-3-33, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.
§22-1-9. Environmental protection advisory council.
(a) There is created within the department of commerce, labor
and environmental resources environmental protection the
environmental protection advisory council. The environmental
protection advisory council consists of seven eight members. The
director secretary serves as an ex officio member of the council
and as its chair. The remaining six seven members are appointed by
the governor. Each member serves for a term of four years and may
be reappointed. Of the members of the council first appointed, two
shall be appointed for terms ending on the thirtieth day of June,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, and two each for terms ending
one and two years thereafter. Vacancies on the council shall be
filled within sixty days after the vacancy occurs.
(b) Two members of the council shall represent industries
regulated by the division department or their trade associations.
Two members shall represent organizations advocating environmental
protection. One member shall represent organizations representing
local governments. One member shall represent public service
districts. One member shall be the commissioner of agriculture or
his or her designee as a representative of the varied agricultural
interest through out the state. In making subsequent appointments
this balance of membership shall be maintained.
(c) Appointed members, who are not employees of the state,
shall be paid the same compensation and expense reimbursement as is
paid to members of the Legislature for their interim duties as
recommended by the citizens legislative compensation commission and
authorized by law for each day or portion thereof engaged in the
discharge of official duties.
(d) The council shall meet at least once every quarter and at
the call of the chair on his or her own motion or at the request of
any four members of the council presented in writing to the chair.
At least fifteen days prior to each regularly scheduled quarterly
meeting, or ten days in advance of a meeting called by the chair,
the secretary shall provide to the council an agenda of all matters
scheduled for discussion at the meeting together with any rules the
secretary intends to propose for promulgation.
(e) The council shall:
(1) Consult with and advise the director secretary on program
and policy development, problem solving and other appropriate
subjects;
(2) Identify and define problems associated with the
implementation of the policy set forth in section one of this
article;
(3) Provide and disseminate to industry and the public early
identification of major federal program and regulatory changes;
(4) Provide a forum for the resolution of conflicts between
constituency groups;
(5) To the extent possible, strive for consensus on the
development of overall environmental policy; and
(6) Upon a majority vote of the members, the council may
submit to the secretary suggestions for proposed rulemaking which
the secretary may propose as amendments to an existing rule or as
a new rule pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code; and
(6) (7) Provide an annual report to the joint committee on
government and finance on or before the first day of January of each year relating to its findings with regard to the division's
performance during the previous year. The report will specifically
address the division's department's performance in accomplishing
the nine ten purposes set forth in subsection (b), section one of
this article.
ARTICLE 3. SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION ACT.
§22-3-33. Quality assurance and compliance advisory committee.
(a) A quality assurance and compliance advisory committee is
hereby established.
(b) The purpose of the advisory committee is to review mine
permitting procedures and related requirements and to work with the
office of mining and reclamation to improve upon the efficiency and
quality of permits issued by the office and improvement of the
permitting process.
(c) The secretary shall serve as an ex officio member of the
advisory committee and as its chair.
(d) The governor shall appoint two members to the committee
who each have five or more years experience in either underground
or surface coal mining; two members who each have five or more
years experience in environmental protection and one citizen at
large from a coal producing region of the state who is not
currently nor has been employed in the coal mining industry.
(e) After the initial appointments, members shall serve for
staggered terms of six years and may be reappointed. Two of the
members of the advisory committee first appointed shall serve terms
ending on the thirtieth day of June, two thousand six, and one each
for terms ending two, three and four years thereafter.
(f) Vacancies on the advisory committee shall be filled within sixty days after the vacancy occurs. Members appointed to fill
vacancies shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.
(g) Any appointed member whose term has expired shall serve
until a successor has been duly appointed and qualified.
(h) Appointed members of the advisory committee shall be paid
the same compensation and expense reimbursement as is provided for
members of the Legislature pursuant to sections six and eight,
article two-a, chapter four of this code.
(i) The advisory committee shall meet at the call of the
secretary or his or her designee, but not less than every four
months.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to empower members of the
environmental protection advisory council to compel meetings and to
have greater and more meaningful participation in the work of the
council; and to create a new six-member advisory committee, called
the quality assurance and compliance committee, to review
permitting procedures and improve the permitting processes, as
established by the United States district court in Bragg v.
Robertson, 248, F.3d 275(4th Cir 2001).
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§22-3-33 is new, therefore strike-throughs have been omitted.)