WEST virginia legislature
2022 regular session
Originating
Senate Bill 713
By Senators Smith, Phillips, Brown, Caputo, Clements, Hamilton, Jeffries, Nelson, Romano, Swope, and Sypolt
[Originating in the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining; reported on February 23, 2022]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-1-15 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to removing the statutory limit of $300,000 for the Environmental Laboratory Certification Fund; and allowing field tests and remote monitoring or testing equipment to be certified by the laboratory certification program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.
§22-1-15. Laboratory certification; rules; fees; revocation and suspension; environmental laboratory certification fund; programs affected; and appeals.
(a) The director shall promulgate rules to require the
certification of laboratories conducting waste and wastewater tests and
analyses to be used for purposes of demonstrating compliance under the covered
statutory programs, including reasonable annual certification fees based upon
the type or classification of tests or analyses being conducted by laboratories
not to exceed an annual program aggregate of $300,000, to be assessed
against laboratory owners or operators in an amount necessary to cover the actual
costs of administration of this program and the processing of certification
applications, to be deposited in the state environmental laboratory
certification fund Environmental Laboratory Certification Fund created
pursuant to this section. By July 1, of each year, the director shall provide
to the secretary a written report reflecting funds collected, how the funds
were expended, and an assessment of the adequacy of the funding to administer
the program.
(b) After the effective date of the rules promulgated
pursuant to this section, waste and wastewater tests and analyses conducted in
laboratories that are not certified for the parameters or toxicity being tested
or analyses shall not be accepted by the division, except as otherwise
provided, as being in compliance with the requirements, rules or orders of the
division issued under authority of one or more of the covered statutory
programs: Provided Provided, That field tests and remote
monitoring or testing equipment which is conducted or located away from any
laboratory may shall not be considered a laboratory for purposes
of assessing the fee, but shall be subject to such quality assurance and
quality control standards as may be established by the director in rules
promulgated pursuant to this section. The director shall provide by rule for
the granting of certification for laboratories located outside of West Virginia
pursuant to this section if the laboratories provide written documentation that
approval has been received under requirements in their state and determined by
the director to be equivalent to the West Virginia laboratory certification
program. The reciprocal certification shall be granted only for testing methods
and parameters for which the laboratory holds a valid authorization in the
other state and only for laboratories in states which allow reciprocity with
respect to laboratories located in this state.
(c) Application shall be made to the director for approval or certification by laboratories on forms and in a manner prescribed by the director.
(d) Certification shall be renewed on an annual basis. The existing certification remains in effect until the director notifies the applicant for renewal that renewal of certification has been granted or denied.
(e) Certification shall be granted for those tests or parameters for which the laboratory demonstrates adequate performance on performance evaluation tests based on the criteria established in rules by the director. The director shall, by rule, establish criteria governing what shall be considered in any decision to deny or issue a certification.
(f) Failure to comply with the requirements of the applicable analytical methods and procedures or standards specified in the rules of the director is grounds for revocation or suspension of certification for the affected test procedures or parameters.
(g) No person subject to the covered statutory programs
shall be allowed to use data or test results from waste and wastewater tests
and analyses conducted at laboratories lacking certification for purposes of
demonstrating compliance under the covered statutory programs: Provided,
That any person whose data or test results are invalidated because that person
had relied upon a laboratory which loses its certification, shall be granted thirty
30 days after notice of the invalidated test results by the director
during which data or test results may be repeated or reanalyzed by a certified
laboratory for purposes of demonstrating compliance under the covered statutory
programs.
(h) A special revenue fund designated the "environmental
laboratory certification fund" Environmental Laboratory
Certification Fund shall be continued in the State Treasury on July 1,
1994. The net proceeds of all fees collected pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the environmental laboratory certification fund. Upon line-item
appropriation by the Legislature, the director shall expend the proceeds,
including the interest thereon, of the environmental laboratory certification
fund solely for the administration of the requirements of this section.
(i) For purposes of this section, "covered statutory
program" means one of the regulatory programs developed under statutory
authority of one of the following acts of the Legislature: Water Pollution
Control Act, article eleven of this chapter §22-11-1 et seq.
of this code; Hazardous Waste Management Act, article eighteen of this
chapter §22-18-1 et seq. of this code; Hazardous Waste
Emergency Response Fund Act, article nineteen of this chapter §22-19-1
et seq. of this code; Underground Storage Tank Act, article
seventeen of this chapter §22-17-1 et seq. of this code; the
Solid Waste Management Act, article fifteen of this chapter §22-15-1 et
seq. of this code; or the Groundwater Protection Act, article twelve
of this chapter §22-12-1 et seq. of this code.
(j) Any person adversely affected by an order or action by
the director pursuant to this section, or aggrieved by the failure or refusal
of the director to act within a reasonable time, or by the action of the
director in granting or denying a certification or renewal of a certification,
may appeal to the environmental quality board pursuant to article one,
chapter twenty-two-b of this code §22B-1-1 et seq. of this code.
(k) The provisions of this section apply only to tests and analyses of waste or wastewater subject to regulation by the Division of Environmental Protection. The provisions of this section do not apply to tests or analyses of potable or drinking water.