Senate Bill No. 89
(By Senators Bowman, Weeks and McKenzie)
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[Introduced January 14, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §22-15-23, relating
to water treatment plant sludge generally; and requiring
promulgation of emergency and legislative rules to encourage
beneficial use of water treatment plant sludge.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-15-23, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 15. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT.
§22-15-23. Water treatment plant sludge.
(a) Water treatment plant sludge determined by the secretary
to have beneficial properties may be beneficially used in
accordance with requirements determined necessary by the secretary to protect human health and the environment. Persons seeking to
beneficially use water treatment plant sludge shall meet the
requirements of this article and the rules promulgated under this
article.
(b) In order to enhance the resource recovery and recycling
goals of this article and to encourage the beneficial use of water
treatment plant sludge, the secretary shall propose for
promulgation emergency rules within one hundred twenty days of the
effective date of this act and legislative rules to effectuate the
purposes of this section in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The secretary
shall at a minimum include the following in the proposed rules:
(1) A mechanism to determine beneficial use characteristics of
water treatment plant sludge;
(2) A method to determine pollutant content of water treatment
plant sludge proposed for beneficial use;
(3) A method to determine that the beneficial properties of
the water treatment plant sludge 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 water
treatment plant sludge;
(6) Analytical methods and storage requirements for water treatment plant sludge;
(7) Permit requirements; and
(8) Appropriate fees.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
require promulgation of
emergency and legislative rules to encourage the beneficial use of
water treatment plant sludge.
This section
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.