Tag: Senate Bill 373

Activists Say Weakening of Tank Bill Puts Water Supply at Risk

Groups lobbying for strong regulations to protect that state’s water resources gathered at the Capitol Monday to tell lawmakers not to pass a bill they say will gut the above ground storage tank legislation passed last year.

The West Virginia Safe Water Roundtable, comprised of multiple citizen action groups and affiliated with the Our Children, Our Future Campaign, spoke out against House Bill 2574.

Activists called the legislation insulting after the time they, industry representatives and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spent over the past year negotiating the terms of an above ground storage tank regulation program that resulted from last year’s approved legislation.

That legislation, Senate Bill 373, was passed just weeks after a chemical spill tainted the water supply for 300 thousand residents in the Kanawha Valley.

“I could remind you that despite its strength, Senate Bill 373 is nevertheless a compromise and concessions to industry were made along the way and I could point out that 1,100 tanks have already been designated not fit for service and that Senate Bill 373 is already working,” activist Karan Ireland said at a press conference Monday.

“Instead, I’d like to speak directly to the sponsors of these bills. What you are doing is wrong.”

Sponsors of House Bill 2574 say the legislation aims at reducing instances of double regulation for many tank owners and focuses on those holding 10 thousand gallons of fluid or more near a public drinking water supply.

Interest groups maintain the change would leave thousands of tanks in the state unregulated.

DEP Secretary: Tank Regulations Starting to Show Results

After the chemical leak from the Freedom Industries site was discovered, some blame was quickly placed on the state Department of Environmental Protection for not properly regulating the tanks. But soon enough, both the public and state lawmakers found out the DEP had no authority over the inspection of those tanks.

That quickly changed as the 2014 legislative session progressed, passing a law to create a registration and inspection program.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said at this time last year, his department did not have the requirement nor the authority to inspect tanks like those located at the Freedom Industries site, but a year later, that has all changed.

“Senate Bill 373 changed that,” he said. “The rules have not yet been promulgated, but that’s okay. The requirements to register the tanks, the requirements to inspect the tanks and turn those certifications in to us exist and that’s happening right now and it’s starting to work.”

The requirements for registration and inspection were set forth in legislation passed by lawmakers in March of last year, but the administrative rules, including the fees assessed for tank inspections and violations, are still in the works. 

The rule itself is currently out on public comment and will likely go before the legislature next month for final approval, but Huffman maintained without the rule in place, the DEP is still seeing progress.

In September, the department filed an interpretive rule to give tank owners more clarity in the registration and inspection process. That rule broke tanks into three categories: 

  • Level One- Level one tanks are located in the zone of critical concern, contain more than 50,000 gallons, or contain hazardous materials; these tanks must be inspected by a certified engineer or a certified Steel Tank Institute or American Petroleum Institute inspector by January 1, 2015.
  • Level Two- Level two is like a catch all for those in the middle ground and often includes the tanks that are most talked about, those located on oil and gas drilling sites
  • Level Three- Level three tanks contain water or food based materials, things the DEP doesn’t intend to regulate and poses little risk for harm; both level two and three tanks must be inspected by the tank owner or a designee by January 1, 2015.

“We’re already getting in inspection results [from self-inspections] where they’re claiming that their own tanks are not fit for service,” Huffman said.
“That is the testimony to the effectiveness of the legislation. We already and in the coming weeks will have tanks being drained that would otherwise not have been.”

The Associated Press reported earlier this week, however, that of the some 50,000 tanks registered with the DEP, nearly 20,000 did not meet the Jan. 1 inspection deadline. 

Kessler: Tomblin Rule on Tanks Usurps Legislature

Senate President Jeff Kessler says the governor’s rule to ease inspections in a law regulating aboveground storage tanks undermines the Legislature.

Kessler told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin should have called a special session instead of proposing the rule. Kessler wanted lawmakers to pass a one-year delay of the Jan. 2015 initial inspection deadline.

The administration’s rule eases inspections for tanks that don’t hold hazardous materials, contain less than 50,000 gallons or aren’t near water supplies. It loosens requirements for tanks holding water and food products like milk. It doesn’t change deadlines.

Tomblin spokesman Chris Stadelman said lawmakers will review rules in the session starting in January.

The law reacts to a January chemical spill that contaminated 300,000 people’s tap water for days.

The DEP's Three Categories of Above Ground Storage Tanks

When the legislature passed Senate Bill 373, they mandated the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection create a program to register and inspect all above ground storage tanks, something the state had never done before.

The bill came in response to January’s chemical spill in Charleston that left 300,000 people without drinking water for days, but for months storage tanks owners have been left with only some vague guidelines about having their tanks registered and inspected by the dates mandated in law. 

The law requires all above ground storage tanks be registered by October 1, 2014, and all be inspected by January 1, 2015. It was that date, the date for inspection, that had some interest groups up in arms, calling on lawmakers to ask the governor for a special session to move back the compliance dates.

But instead of calling that special session, Governor Tomblin chose to clarify the law through administrative rule. The DEP is working on finalizing a completed rule by December, but for now, tank owners have an interpretive rule to follow.

The interpretive rule says tanks will be categorized into three levels with specific standards set for each:

  • Level One- Level one tanks are located in the zone of critical concern, contain more than 50,000 gallons, or contain hazardous materials; these tanks must be inspected by a certified engineer or a certified Steel Tank Institute or American Petroleum Institute inspector by January 1, 2015.
  • Level Two- Level two is like a catch all for those in the middle ground and often includes the tanks that are most talked about, those located on oil and gas drilling sites
  • Level Three- Level three tanks contain water or food based materials, things the DEP doesn’t intend to regulate and poses little risk for harm; both level two and three tanks must be inspected by the tank owner or a designee by January 1, 2015.

“To have [level two and three] tanks inspected to the same rigorous standard as a tank such as the Freedom tanks seemed to not be a very efficient process for anyone,” DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said of the rule Tuesday.

“So, we think we have established an inspection level, in full compliance with the legislation, for each tank category that is appropriate for that particular category.”

Huffman said the final emergency rule will include the same three categories for inspection and spill response plans.

Tomblin: No Special Session on Tank Law Changes

  Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is planning administrative fixes instead of a special session to adjust a law regulating aboveground storage tanks.

Tomblin spokesman Chris Stadelman says the governor won’t call a special session, as legislative leaders had urged. Lawmakers are already in Charleston this week for interim committee meetings.

Stadelman says the administration plans to put a higher priority on inspections for tanks near water supplies. He says tanks holding hazardous materials will also take priority.

House Speaker Tim Miley and Senate President Jeff Kessler said a Jan. 1 deadline for tank inspections in the law is unattainable.

Miley has said tank requirements would overly burden small oil and gas operators.

The law reacts to a January chemical spill that contaminated 300,000 people’s tap water for days.

Groups Working with Governor, DEP to Avoid Special Session on Tank Bill

Stakeholders met with the governor’s office and the Department of Environmental Protection Friday to discuss possibly calling the legislature into a special session. The session would be focused on fixing some unintended consequences both Senate and House leadership see in the above ground storage tank bill passed earlier this year.

Friday’s meeting was the second this week focused on Senate Bill 373, legislation that came as a response to January’s chemical spill in Charleston. The spill contaminated 300,000 people’s drinking water for as many as ten days.

Representatives of business, industry and citizen groups met with DEP Secretary Randy Huffman and members of Governor Tomblin’s staff to discuss their concerns over moving the deadline to comply with tank inspections required by the bill.

House Speaker Tim Miley and Senate President Jeff Kessler have asked the governor to call a special session for lawmakers to reconsider the January 1 deadline.

Co-founder of the West Virginia Sustainable Business Council Nancy Ward says pushing back the deadline won’t help her business regain the customer trust it lost during the water crisis.

“Weakening the bill or pushing back deadlines [won’t help],” Ward said.

Jeni Burns, Ward’s Sustainable Business Council co-founder, said at Friday’s meeting, Huffman presented his department’s proposal for rules to regulate above ground tanks.

The system includes three levels of classification with regulations for each, but representatives of the DEP didn’t respond to requests for a more detailed explanation.

The group is working to avoid a special session by fixing the unintended consequences of the legislation and addressing the concerns of interested parties through rulemaking.

“If we go into special session, we kind of leave it up in the air for whatever to happen,” Burns said, “but if we can sit down around the table and look at the best interest of everybody they represent and try to come to a solution, I think that’s better in the long run for West Virginians.”

Tomblin will ultimately decide if a special session is necessary. Members of his staff say he will likely make that decision in the next few weeks.

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