State residents will have a
chance to weigh in on the proposed legislative response to the Jan. 9
chemical leak along the Elk River on Monday evening in Charleston
A public hearing was scheduled for
5:30 p.m. in the House of Delegates chamber for the above ground storage tank
regulatory bill. Following the public hearing, members of as many as
three House committees — House Health and Human Resources, House Judiciary and
House Finance — will consider the bill.
From the other side of the State
Capitol, Senate President Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall, 2) said he’s hoping the
proposed bill does not get lost.
Last week, the Senate unanimously
approved SB 373 and sent it to the House.
The proposal moved quickly through
the Senate in the weeks after the Freedom Industries chemical spill that
contaminated the tap water for the more than 300,000 West
Virginians who get their water from West Virginia American Water
Company’s Kanawha Valley Water Treatment Plant.
Kessler said he wants to see the
same kind of speed in the House.
As proposed, the bill would require
all above ground storage tanks, those similar to the tank that leaked crude MCHM
and PPH at Freedom Industries in Kanawha
County
Company-hired engineers would
conduct the yearly inspections. However, at sites sitting less than 25
miles upstream from a treatment facility’s water intake, officials with the
state Department of Environmental Protection would conduct a
separate inspection each year.
In addition, if the legislation is
approved, public water systems would be required to have established emergency
plans for future chemical spills.
The House has just more than a
month to work through the proposal. The 2014 Regular Legislative Session
ends on Saturday, March 8.
