West Virginia HB 3432: Revising the statutes to clarify and separate duties identified in the code between the Division of Emergency Management and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

Bill Text

WEST virginia legislature

2025 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 3432

By Delegate Kelly

[By Request of the Department of Homeland Security 

– Division of Emergency Management]

 [Introduced March 17, 2025; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]



	

A BILL to amend and reenact §15-5B-3a and §15-5C-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as 

amended, revising the statutes to clarify and separate duties identified in the code between the Division of Emergency Management and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection according to what each agency has the resources and expertise to fulfill to delegate the duties of investigation of industrial facility emergency events and emergency incidents by well and pipeline operators that are reported to the Division of Emergency Management and implementation of fines and penalties imposed upon industrial facilities and well and pipeline operators to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 5B. mINE AND INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT RAPID RESPONSE SYSTEM.

§15-5B-3a. Industrial facility emergency event notification and access.

(a) Definitions. -- Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different meaning, the following words and phrases as used in this section have the following meanings:

(1) "Industrial facility" means:

(A) Any facility that is required to submit a risk management plan to the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to regulations promulgated under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §7412(r), including the property upon which the facility is located and any buildings appurtenant thereto or associated therewith, including storage facilities; or

(B) A facility which is a factory, mill, plant or refinery, other than a coal facility, including the property upon which a factory, mill, plant or refinery is located and any buildings appurtenant thereto or associated therewith, including storage facilities, found by the director to be of a type to have a reasonable potential to have an emergency event: Provided, That before any facility may be subject to the provisions of this section, the owner or operator of each facility must shall be placed on actual written notice via certified mail, return receipt requested, of the facility's inclusion thereon, as well as the requirements imposed by the provisions of this section and any rules promulgated thereunder: Provided, however, That the list required by the provisions of this section shall be filed with the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates by the first day of the 2010 legislative session.

(2) "Appropriate state and local officials" means the Governor or his or her representative, the Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, a representative designated by the Director Secretary of the Division Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management who has been trained and qualified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Incident Management System (NIMS) program and/or a representative of a local emergency management agency who has been trained and qualified by FEMA's NIMS program.

(3) "Director" means the Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

(4) "Emergency event" means an unplanned event, including, but not limited to, an explosion, a fire that cannot be contained within 15 minutes of discovery, the release of a reportable quantity, as specified in 40 C.F.R. §302 (2009) or its successor, of an extremely hazardous substance listed in the appendices to 40 C.F.R. §355 (2009) or its successor, loss of life or serious personal injury at an industrial facility: Provided, That the director may, by promulgation of a legislative rule, establish a higher threshold report level for a particular extremely hazardous substance than is set in the aforementioned Code of Federal Regulations citation.

(b) Reporting requirement. --

(1) Within 15 minutes of the industrial facility ascertaining the occurrence of an emergency event at an industrial facility, the industrial facility shall contact the Mine and Industrial Accident Emergency Operations Center by telephone at the statewide telephone number established by the director or shall contact a local emergency telephone system the local county 9-1-1 Center, as defined in §24-6-1 et seq. of this code, by telephone at the number established by the system to communicate the occurrence of the emergency event: Provided, That if telephone communications fail for any reason, the industrial facility shall contact local emergency services in the most expeditious manner possible. The industrial facility shall provide the following information:

(A) The name and title of the individual making the report;

(B) The name and address of the facility; and

(C) Notification that an emergency event has occurred.

(2) If the caller has ready access