West Virginia Code 22-12-7 – Groundwater coordinating committee; creation
(a) The state groundwater coordinating committee is continued. It consists of the commissioner of the bureau of public health, the commissioner of agriculture, the chair of the environmental quality board, the chief of the office of water resources of the Division of Environmental Protection and the director of the Division of Environmental Protection who shall serve as its chair.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-12-7
- Board: means the state water resources environmental quality board. See West Virginia Code 22-12-3
- Chief: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, or his or her designee, who is also the chief executive officer of an office, division or section within the department. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- Director: means the director of the Division of Environmental Protection or such other person to whom the director has delegated authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 22-12-3
- Division: means the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- Groundwater: means the water occurring in the zone of saturation beneath the seasonal high water table, or any perched water zones. See West Virginia Code 22-12-3
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Office: means any office, division, board, agency, unit, organizational entity or component thereof within the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- 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
- Water: 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 22-12-3
(b) The groundwater coordinating committee shall consult, review and make recommendations on the implementation of this article by each of the groundwater regulatory agencies. Such committee shall require the periodic submittal to it of the groundwater protection programs of each groundwater regulatory agency including all rules, permits, policies, directives and any other regulatory devices employed to implement this article.
(c) Upon a review of such programs, the groundwater coordinating committee shall recommend to the director approval of such programs, in whole or in part, and identify in writing any aspect of such programs that are not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of this article and specify a reasonable time period for correcting those portions of the program that are found not to be sufficient.
(d) The director may accept the recommendation of the committee, in whole or in part, and identify in writing any additional aspects of such programs that are not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of this article and specify a time period for correcting those portions of the program that are found not to be sufficient.
(e) In the biennial report to the Legislature required by this article, the director shall identify all portions of groundwater protection programs which have been determined not to be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of this article and which have not been adequately addressed within the time period specified by the director.
(f) No agency shall modify any aspect of its groundwater protection program as approved by the director without the prior written approval of the director of such modification. This requirement does not relieve such agency of any other requirements of law that may be applicable to such a modification.
(g) The groundwater coordinating committee is authorized and empowered to promulgate such legislative rules as may be necessary to implement this section in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.