West Virginia Code 22-22-6 – Voluntary remediation administrative fund established; voluntary remediation fees authorized; brownfields revolving fund established; disbursement of funds moneys; employment of specialized persons authorized
(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special revenue fund known as the Voluntary Remediation Administrative Fund. The fund shall operate as a special fund whereby all deposits and payments thereto do not expire to the General Revenue Fund, but shall remain in the fund and be available for expenditure in succeeding fiscal years. This fund shall consist of fees collected by the director in accordance with the provisions of this article as well as interest earned on investments made from moneys deposited in the fund. Moneys from this fund shall be expended by the director for the administration, licensing, enforcement, inspection, monitoring, planning, research and other activities required by this article.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-22-6
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Brownfield: means any industrial or commercial property which is abandoned or not being actively used by the owner as of the effective date of this article, but shall not include any site subject to a unilateral enforcement order under §. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- 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 this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Division: means the Division of Environmental Protection of the State of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Remediation: means to cleanup, mitigate, correct, abate, minimize, eliminate, control and contain or prevent a release of a contaminant into the environment in order to protect the present or future public health, safety, welfare, or the environment, including preliminary actions to study or assess the release. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- Site: means any property or portion thereof which contains or may contain contaminants and is eligible for remediation as provided under this article. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
- 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
- Voluntary remediation: means a series of measures that may be self-initiated by a person to identify and address potential sources of contamination of property and to establish that the property complies with applicable remediation standards. See West Virginia Code 22-22-2
The director shall promulgate legislative rules in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code establishing a schedule of voluntary remediation fees applicable to persons who conduct activities subject to the provisions of this article. The fees may include an appropriate assessment of other program costs not otherwise attributable to any specific site but necessary for the administrative activities required to carry out the provisions of this article.
(b) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special revenue fund known as the Brownfields Revolving Fund. The fund shall be comprised of moneys allocated to the state by the federal government expressly for the purposes of establishing and maintaining a state brownfields redevelopment revolving fund, all receipts from loans made from the fund, any moneys appropriated by the Legislature, all income from the investment of moneys held in the fund, and all other sums designated for deposit to the fund from any source, public or private. The fund shall operate as a special fund whereby all deposits and payments thereto do not expire to the General Revenue Fund, but shall remain in the account and be available for expenditure in succeeding fiscal years. Moneys in the fund, to the extent that moneys are available, shall be used solely to make loans to persons to finance site assessments of eligible brownfield sites and such other activities as authorized by any federal grant received or any legislative appropriation: Provided, That moneys in the fund may be utilized to defray those costs incurred by the division in administering the provisions of this subsection. The director shall promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to govern the disbursement of moneys from the fund, and establish a state brownfields redevelopment assistance program to direct the distribution of loans from the fund, and establish the interest rates and repayment terms of such loans: Provided, however, That amounts in the fund, other than those appropriated by the federal government, and which are found from time to time to exceed the amount needed for the purposes set forth in this article, may be transferred to other accounts or funds and redesignated for other purposes through appropriations of the Legislature.
In order to carry out the administration and management of the fund, the division is authorized to employ officers, agents, advisors and consultants including attorneys, financial advisors, engineers, other technical advisors and public accountants and, not withstanding any provisions of this code to the contrary, to determine their duties and compensation without the approval of any other agency or instrumentality.