West Virginia Code 22-11-17 – Power of eminent domain; procedures; legislative finding
(a) When any person who is owner of an establishment is ordered by the director to stop or prevent pollution or the violation of the rules of the board or director or to take corrective or remedial action, compliance with which order will require the acquisition, construction or installation of a new treatment works or the extension or modification of or an addition to an existing treatment works, (which acquisition, construction, installation, extension, modification or addition of or to a treatment works pursuant to such order is referred to in this section as "such compliance") such person may exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided in chapter fifty-four of this code, to acquire such real property or interests in real property as may be determined by the director to be reasonably necessary for such compliance.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-11-17
- Board: means the environmental quality board, provided in article three, chapter . See West Virginia Code 22-11-3
- Director: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection or his or her designee. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- Establishment: means an industrial establishment, mill, factory, tannery, paper or pulp mill, mine, colliery, breaker or mineral processing operation, quarry, refinery, well and each and every industry or plant or works in the operation or process of which industrial wastes, sewage or other wastes are produced. See West Virginia Code 22-11-3
- Pollution: means the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of the waters of the state. See West Virginia Code 22-11-3
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, all rights thereto and interests therein, except chattel interests. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Treatment works: means any plant, facility, means, system, disposal field, lagoon, pumping station, constructed drainage ditch or surface water intercepting ditch, diversion ditch above or below the surface of the ground, settling tank or pond, earthen pit, incinerator, area devoted to sanitary landfills or other works not specifically mentioned herein, installed for the purpose of treating, neutralizing, stabilizing, holding or disposing of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes or for the purpose of regulating or controlling the quality and rate of flow thereof. See West Virginia Code 22-11-3
- waters: means any and all water on or beneath the surface of the ground, whether percolating, standing, diffused or flowing, wholly or partially within this state, or bordering this state and within its jurisdiction, and includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, natural or artificial lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, branches, brooks, ponds (except farm ponds, industrial settling basins and ponds and water treatment facilities), impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, watercourses and wetlands. See West Virginia Code 22-11-3
(b) Upon application by such person and after twenty days' written notice to all persons whose property may be affected, the director shall make and enter an order determining the specific real property or interests in real property, if any, which are reasonably necessary for such compliance. In any proceeding under this section, the person seeking to exercise the right of eminent domain herein conferred shall establish the need for the amount of land sought to be condemned and that such land is reasonably necessary for the most practical method for such compliance.
(c) The right of eminent domain herein conferred does not apply to the taking of any dwelling house or for the taking of any land within five hundred feet of any such dwelling house.
(d) The Legislature hereby declares and finds that the taking and use of real property and interests in real property determined to be reasonably necessary for such compliance promotes the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of this state by reducing and abating pollution in the waters of this state in which the public at large has an interest and otherwise; that such taking and use are necessary to provide and protect a safe, pure and adequate water supply to the municipalities and citizens of the state; that because of topography, patterns of land development and ownership and other factors it is impossible in many cases to effect such compliance without the exercise of the power of eminent domain and that the use of real property or interests in real property to effect such compliance is a public use for which private property may be taken or destroyed.