Introduced Version
Senate Bill 465 History
OTHER VERSIONS -
Committee Substitute (2)
|
Enrolled Version - Final Version
|
Committee Substitute (1)
|
| 
Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 465
(By Senators Unger, Jenkins, Prezioso and Plymale)
____________
[Introduced February 6, 2007; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-14-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new section, designated §22-14-19, all relating to dam
control; definitions; defining "deficient dam"; establishing
a revolving loan fund for loans to finance the engineering,
design, improvement, repair, breeching or removal necessary to
correct or remove deficient dams in this state; and providing
for promulgation of rules.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-14-3 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 §22-14-19, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 14. DAM CONTROL ACT.
§22-14-3. Definition of terms used in article.
As used in this article, unless used in a context that clearly
requires a different meaning, the term:
(a) "Alterations" or "repairs" means only those changes in the
structure or integrity of a dam which may affect its safety, which
determination shall be made by the secretary.
(b) "Application for a certificate of approval" means the
request in writing by a person to the secretary requesting that
person be issued a certificate of approval.
(c) "Appurtenant works" means any structure or facility which
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.
(d) "Certificate of approval" means the approval in writing
issued by the secretary to a person who has applied to the
secretary for a certificate of approval which 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.
(e) "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: (1)
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; or (2) is or will be six 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 fifty acre-feet or
more of water: Provided, That the term "dam" does not include:
(A) Any dam owned by the federal government; (B) any dam for which
the operation and maintenance thereof is the responsibility of the
federal government; (C) farm ponds constructed and used primarily
for agricultural purposes, including, but not limited to, livestock
watering, irrigation, retention of animal wastes and fish culture,
and which have no potential to cause loss of human life in the
event of embankment failure; or (D) roadfill or other
transportation structures which do not or will not impound water
under normal conditions and which have a designed culvert or
similar conveyance or such capacity as would be used under a state
designed highway at the same location: Provided, however, That the
secretary may apply the provisions of section ten of this article
for roadfill or other transportation structures that become a
hazard to human life or property through the frequent or continuous
impoundment of water.
(f) "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 during a major storm or other inclement weather, or over a period of time, resulting in a
potential for loss of life or property or otherwise fails to meet
the requirements of this article.
(f) (g) "Department" means the Department of Environmental
Protection.
(g) (h) "Enlargement" means any change in or addition to an
existing dam which: (1) Raises the height of the dam; (2) raises
or may raise the water storage elevation of the water impounded by
the dam; (3) increases or may increase the amount of water
impounded by the dam; or (4) increases or may increase the
watershed area from which water is impounded by the dam.
(h) (i) "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; the State of West Virginia; any state governmental agency;
any political subdivision of the state or of its counties or
municipalities; sanitary district; public service district;
drainage district; conservation district; watershed improvement
district; partnership; trust; estate; person or individual; group
of persons or individuals acting individually or as a group; or any
other legal entity whatever. The term "person", when used in this
article, includes and refers to any authorized agent, lessee or
trustee of any of the foregoing or receiver or trustee appointed by
any court for any of the foregoing.
(i) (j) "Reservoir" means any basin which contains or will
contain impounded water.
(j) (k) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Department of
Environmental Protection.
(k) (l) "Natural resources conservation service" means the
natural resource conservation service of the United States
Department of Agriculture or any successor or predecessor agency,
including the soil conservation service.
(l) (m) "Water" means any liquid, including any solids or
other matter which may be contained therein, which is or may be
impounded by a dam.
(m) (n) "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.
§22-14-19. Dam Safety Rehabilitation Revolving Fund established;
disbursement of fund moneys.
(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special
revenue fund known as the "Dam Safety Rehabilitation Revolving
Fund." The fund shall be comprised of moneys allocated to the
state by the federal government expressly for the purposes of
establishing and maintaining a state dam safety rehabilitation
revolving fund, all receipts from loans made from the fund, any
moneys appropriated by the Legislature, all income from the
investment of moneys held in the fund, and all other moneys designated for deposit to the fund from any source, public or
private. The fund shall operate as a special fund whereby all
deposits and payments thereto do not expire to the General Revenue
Fund, but shall remain in the account and be available for
expenditure in succeeding fiscal years.
(b) Moneys in the fund, to the extent that moneys are
available, shall be used solely to make loans to persons who own
any interest in a deficient dam to finance the engineering, design,
alteration, improvement, repair, breaching or removal of the
deficient dam necessary to correct or remove any deficiencies and
such other activities as authorized by any federal grant received
or any legislative appropriation: Provided, That moneys in the
fund may be utilized to defray those costs incurred by the
department in administering the provisions of this subsection.
(c) The secretary shall promulgate rules in accordance with
the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to govern the
disbursement of moneys from the fund, establish a state deficient
dams rehabilitation assistance program to direct the distribution
of loans from the fund, establish criteria for eligibility to
receive loans from the fund and establish the terms and conditions,
including interest rates and repayment terms, of such loans.
(d) The secretary may employ qualified officers, agents,
advisors and consultants and other persons as necessary to carry
out the administration and management of the fund.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a revolving
loan fund to finance the correction or removal of deficient dams in
this state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§22-14-19 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
