H. B. 2329
(By Delegates Linch, Fleischauer, Hutchins,
Rowe, Riggs and Trump)
[Introduced January 21, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and seven, article
fifteen, chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section one-b, article two, chapter twenty-four
all generally relating to rates, collection and disposal of
residential solid waste; requiring land fills and transfer
stations to accept bulky goods and waste tires; prohibiting
disposal of waste tires in landfills; expanding general
jurisdiction of the public service commission over commercial
solid waste facilities and transporters of solid waste;
requiring the public service commission to develop and
implement use sensitive rates for collection of solid waste;
requiring public hearings; requiring submission of a report
to the governor and legislature; and requiring the public
service commission to develop and implement a plan for collection of bulky goods.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and eight, article fifteen, chapter twenty- two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted and section one-b,
article two, chapter twenty-four be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
CHAPTER 22. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES.
ARTICLE 15. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT.
§22-15-2. Definitions.
Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, as
used in this article the terms:
(1) "Agronomic rate" means the whole sewage sludge application
rate, by dry weight, designed:
(A) To provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop,
feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop or vegetation on the land; and
(B) To minimize the amount of nitrogen in the sewage sludge
that passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown on
the land to the groundwater.
(2) "Applicant" means the person applying for a commercial
solid waste facility permit or similar renewal permit and any
person related to such person by virtue of common ownership, common
management or family relationships as the director may specify,
including the following: Spouses, parents and children and siblings.
(3) "Approved solid waste facility" means a solid waste
facility or practice which has a valid permit under this article.
(4) "Back hauling" means the practice of using the same
container to transport solid waste and to transport any substance
or material used as food by humans, animals raised for human
consumption or reusable item which may be refilled with any
substance or material used as food by humans.
(5) "Bulking agent" means any material mixed and composted
with sewage sludge.
(6)"Bulky goods" means those items of residential solid waste
which the resident disposes of from time to time, which are too
large to be placed in normal residential disposal containers and
includes household furniture, carpet and large appliances such as
washers and dryers.
(6) (7) "Class A facility" means a commercial solid waste
facility which handles an aggregate of between ten thousand and
thirty thousand tons of solid waste per month. Class A facility
includes two or more Class B solid waste landfills owned or
operated by the same person in the same county, if the aggregate
tons of solid waste handled per month by such landfills exceeds
nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine tons of solid waste per
month.
(7) (8) "Commercial recycler" means any person, corporation or
business entity whose operation involves the mechanical separation of materials for the purpose of reselling or recycling at least
seventy percent by weight of the materials coming into the
commercial recycling facility.
(8) (9) "Commercial solid waste facility" means any solid
waste facility which accepts solid waste generated by sources other
than the owner or operator of the facility and does not include an
approved solid waste facility owned and operated by a person for
the sole purpose of the disposal, processing or composting of solid
wastes created by that person or such person and other persons on
a cost-sharing or nonprofit basis and does not include land upon
which reused or recycled materials are legitimately applied for
structural fill, road base, mine reclamation and similar
applications.
(9) (10) "Compost" means a humus-like material resulting from
aerobic, microbial, thermophilic decomposition of organic
materials.
(10) (11) "Composting" means the aerobic, microbial,
thermophilic decomposition of natural constituents of solid waste
to produce a stable, humus-like material.
(11) (12) "Commercial composting facility" means any solid
waste facility processing solid waste by composting, including
sludge composting, organic waste or yard waste composting, but does
not include a composting facility owned and operated by a person
for the sole purpose of composting waste created by that person or
such person and other persons on a cost-sharing or nonprofit basis and shall not include land upon which finished or matured compost
is applied for use as a soil amendment or conditioner.
(12) (13) "Cured compost" or "finished compost" means compost
which has a very low microbial or decomposition rate which will not
reheat or cause odors when put into storage and that has been put
through a separate aerated curing cycle stage of thirty to sixty
days after an initial composting cycle or compost which meets all
regulatory requirements after the initial composting cycle.
(13) (14) "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 article one of this
chapter.
(14) (15) "Division" means the division of environmental
protection.
(15) (16) "Energy recovery incinerator" means any solid waste
facility at which solid wastes are incinerated with the intention
of using the resulting energy for the generation of steam,
electricity or any other use not specified herein.
(16) (17) "Incineration technologies" means any technology
that uses controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid
waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that
contains little or no combustible materials, regardless of whether
the purpose is processing, disposal, electric or steam generation
or any other method by which solid waste is incinerated.
(17) (18) "Incinerator" means an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid waste,
including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains
little or no combustible materials.
(18) (19) "Landfill" means any solid waste facility for the
disposal of solid waste on or in the land for the purpose of
permanent disposal. Such facility is situated, for purposes of
this article, in the county where the majority of the spatial area
of such facility is located.
(19) (20) "Materials recovery facility" means any solid waste
facility at which source-separated materials or materials recovered
through a mixed waste processing facility are manually or
mechanically shredded or separated for purposes of reuse and
recycling, but does not include a composting facility.
(20) (21) "Mature compost" means compost which has been
produced in an aerobic, microbial, thermophilic manner and does not
exhibit phytotoxic effects.
(21) (22) "Mixed solid waste" means solid waste from which
materials sought to be reused or recycled have not been source- separated from general solid waste.
(22) (23) "Mixed waste processing facility" means any solid
waste facility at which materials are recovered from mixed solid
waste through manual or mechanical means for purposes of reuse,
recycling or composting.
(23) (24) "Municipal solid waste incineration" means the
burning of any solid waste collected by any municipal or residential solid waste disposal company.
(24) (25) "Open dump" means any solid waste disposal which
does not have a permit under this article, or is in violation of
state law, or where solid waste is disposed in a manner that does
not protect the environment.
(25) (26) "Person" or "persons" means any industrial user,
public or private corporation, institution, association, firm or
company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other
state or country; state of West Virginia; governmental agency,
including federal facilities; political subdivision; county
commission; municipal corporation; industry; sanitary district;
public service district; drainage district; soil conservation
district; watershed improvement district; partnership; trust;
estate; person or individual; group of persons or individuals
acting individually or as a group; or any legal entity whatever.
(26) (27) "Publicly owned treatment works" means any treatment
works owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof, any
municipality or any other public entity which processes raw
domestic, industrial or municipal sewage by any artificial or
natural processes in order to remove or so alter constituents as to
render the waste less offensive or dangerous to the public health,
comfort or property of any of the inhabitants of this state, before
the discharge of the plant effluent into any of the waters of this
state, and which produces sewage sludge.
(27) (28) "Recycling facility" means any solid waste facility for the purpose of recycling at which neither land disposal nor
biological, chemical or thermal transformation of solid waste
occurs: Provided, That mixed waste recovery facilities, sludge
processing facilities and composting facilities are not considered
recycling facilities nor considered to be reusing or recycling
solid waste within the meaning of this article, article four,
chapter twenty-two-c and article eleven, chapter twenty of this
code.
(28) (29) "Sewage sludge" means solid, semisolid or liquid
residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a
treatment works. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to,
domestic septage, scum or solids removed in primary, secondary or
advanced wastewater treatment processes and a material derived from
sewage sludge. "Sewage sludge" does not include ash generated
during the firing of sewage sludge in a sewage sludge incinerator.
(29) (30) "Sewage sludge processing facility" is a solid waste
facility that processes sewage sludge for: (A) Land application;
(B) incineration; or (C) disposal at an approved landfill. Such
processes include, but are not limited to, composting, lime
stabilization, thermophilic, microbial and anaerobic digestion.
(30) (31) "Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, residue or
precipitate, separated from or created by a municipal, commercial
or industrial waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant
or air pollution control facility or any other such waste having similar origin.
(31) (32) "Solid waste" means any garbage, paper, litter,
refuse, cans, bottles, waste processed for the express purpose of
incineration; sludge from a waste treatment plant; water supply
treatment plant or air pollution control facility; and other
discarded materials, including offensive or unsightly matter,
solid, liquid, semisolid or contained liquid or gaseous material
resulting from industrial, commercial, mining or community
activities but does not include solid or dissolved material in
sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows
or industrial discharges which are point sources and have permits
under article five-a of this chapter, or source, special nuclear or
byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended, including any nuclear or byproduct material considered by
federal standards to be below regulatory concern, or a hazardous
waste either identified or listed under article five-e of this
chapter or refuse, slurry, overburden or other wastes or material
resulting from coal-fired electric power or steam generation, the
exploration, development, production, storage and recovery of coal,
oil and gas and other mineral resources placed or disposed of at a
facility which is regulated under chapter twenty-two, twenty-two-a
or twenty-two-b of this code, so long as such placement or disposal
is in conformance with a permit issued pursuant to such chapters.
(32) (33) "Solid waste disposal" means the practice of
disposing of solid waste including placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing any solid waste to be placed, deposited, dumped
or thrown.
(33) (34) "Solid waste disposal shed" means the geographical
area which the solid waste management board designates and files in
the state register pursuant to section eight, article twenty-six,
chapter sixteen of this code.
(34) (35) "Solid waste facility" means any system, facility,
land, contiguous land, improvements on the land, structures or
other appurtenances or methods used for processing, recycling or
disposing of solid waste, including landfills, transfer stations,
materials recovery facilities, mixed waste processing facilities,
sewage sludge processing facilities, commercial composting
facilities and other such facilities not herein specified, but not
including land upon which sewage sludge is applied in accordance
with section twenty of this article. Such facility shall be deemed
to be situated, for purposes of this article, in the county where
the majority of the spatial area of such facility is located:
Provided, That a salvage yard, licensed and regulated pursuant to
the terms of article twenty-three, chapter seventeen of this code,
is not a solid waste facility.
(35) (36) "Solid waste facility operator" means any person or
persons possessing or exercising operational, managerial or
financial control over a commercial solid waste facility, whether
or not such person holds a certificate of convenience and necessity or a permit for such facility.
(36) (37) "Source-separated materials" means materials
separated from general solid waste at the point of origin for the
purpose of reuse and recycling but does not mean sewage sludge.
§22-15-7. Special provisions for residential solid waste and bulky
goods disposal.
(a) All commercial and public landfills shall establish and
publish a yearly schedule providing for one day per month on which
a person not in the business of hauling or disposing of solid waste
may dispose of, in a landfill, an amount of residential solid
waste, up to one pick-up truckload or its equivalent, free of all
charges and fees: Provided, That the provisions of this section
shall not take effect until the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-eight. Any person who is not a resident of
West Virginia may only participate in the monthly free disposal day
upon proof that his or her state of residence would likewise allow
West Virginia residents to dispose of residential solid waste in
the same or substantially similar manner.
(b) All commercial landfills and transfer stations shall
accept waste tires and bulky goods. Waste tires may be collected
and temporarily stored or processed at a landfill, but not disposed
of except as provided in section eight, article eleven, chapter
twenty of this code and the rules promulgated thereunder. Bulky
goods may be disposed of in a landfill if they can not be recycled. The director shall propose for legislative promulgation a rule for
the proper recycling or disposal of bulky goods, including removal
of contaminants such as freon which may be in bulky goods.
CHAPTER 24. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-1b. Additional jurisdiction of commission.
(a) Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-eight, in In addition to all other powers and duties of the
commission as defined in this article, the commission shall
establish, prescribe and enforce rates and fees charged by
commercial solid waste facilities, as defined in section two,
article fifteen, chapter twenty-two of this code, that are owned or
under the direct control of persons or entities who are regulated
under section five, article two, chapter twenty-four-a of this
code. The commission shall establish, prescribe and enforce rules
providing for the safe transportation of solid waste in the state.
(b) The public service commission shall study the feasibility
of incorporating and adopting guidelines for solid waste collection
fees that are based upon the volume of solid waste generated by any
person. This report shall be submitted to the governor and the
members of the Legislature on or before the first day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three. Within one year of the
effective date of this act, the public service commission shall
implement a phase in of use sensitive rates for collection of solid waste throughout West Virginia. The rates may be based upon a per
bag fee, weight or other method determined by the commission to be
in the best interest of the citizens of West Virginia. The
commission shall have public hearings on the development of use
sensitive rates and shall encourage, accept and consider all
written and oral public comments. Use sensitive rates shall not be
implemented in any service area where such rates would increase the
customer's cost for service. The rate system must be in place and
fully operational within three years of its implementation. The
commission shall submit a report on the system to the governor, the
president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Delegates
on or before the tenth day of the regular session of the
Legislature in the year two thousand one. The report shall include
but not be limited to the fiscal impact of use sensitive solid
waste disposal rates on individuals and business covered by the
rates; the impact on certificated motor carriers, solid waste
facilities, recycling and the need for any adjustments in the rates
or the system.
(c) The public service commission shall implement a plan for
the collection of residential bulky goods in West Virginia. The
collection rates may be based upon a flat rate not to exceed fifty
cents per month, included in each subscriber's bill, a per item
fee, weight or other method determined by the commission to be in
the best interest of the citizens of West Virginia. The collection
of bulky goods shall occur at least monthly. For the purposes of this section, "bulky goods" means those items of residential solid
waste which the resident disposes of from time to time, which are
too large to be placed in normal residential disposal containers
and includes household furniture, carpet and large appliances such
as washers and dryers. Certificated motor carriers, landfills and
transfer stations that remove contaminants such as freon from bulky
goods may apply for a rate increase to cover the actual cost of
contaminant removal.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for use
sensitive residential solid waste collection rates and collection
of bulky goods.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
This bill was recommended by the Joint Committee on the
Judiciary for introduction and passage in the 1999 legislative
session.