House Legislation Would Up Fines and Community Service

West Virginia is known as much for her natural beauty, forests, mountains, rivers and streams as it is known for anything else. In a continuing effort to keep West Virginia clean, the House of Delegates passed a bill this week, House Bill 4014, which would increase the criminal penalties for littering.

The changes to current law included in this proposed legislation make the potential fines much more substantial while also eliminating the ranges and increasing the community service for convictions for littering.

The fine, upon conviction, for littering amounts less than 100 pounds or 27 cubic feet would increase from a range of $100 to $1,000 and instead makes the penalty $1,000. It would also change the community service from a range of 8-16 hours to 100 hours.

Additionally, the fine, upon conviction for littering amounts more than 100 to 500 pounds or 27 to 216 cubic feet would also increase from a range of $1,000 to $2,000 to a fine of $2,000. The community service penalty for this offense would increase from 16 to 32 hours to 200 hours. In both instances the words “or both” have been removed to indicate the court must decide between the monetary or community service penalties rather than a combination of both, as is currently permitted.

Finally, the proposed bill sets the fine and penalty for a conviction of littering more than 500 pounds or greater than 216 cubic feet at between $2,500 to $25,000 as well as confinement in jail for no more than one year, or both. The bill would also double the penalty for a second or subsequent violation.

Potentially, the increased fines and community service will go far to discourage people from littering and throwing their waste away recklessly. It is suspected the state spends over $1 million cleaning up litter from the state highway system alone. Litter does more than degrade the quality of life and damage the natural beauty of the state, it harms the animals, costs taxpayers in cleanup costs and, may impact business and residents from locating in West Virginia.

The bill passed the House unanimously and must now be considered by the Senate for final approval.

After the recent chemical spill that left nine counties in West Virginia without usable water, the Senate is working to pass legislation that will increase regulation on liquid holding tanks and ensure this type of crisis will never happen again anywhere in the state.

The Joint Commission on State Water Resources, comprised of five Senators and five Delegates, has been investigating the causes of the chemical leak and exploring ways to prevent a future incident from occurring. The Joint Commission has been holding hearings to get opinions and recommendations from water experts.

During the first hearing, legislators heard from Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute. Ziemkiewicz explained that according to the West Virginia Code, Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the chemical leak, should have had records with a description of the chemicals along with an emergency response plan in place. Freedom Industries should have also been undergoing regular inspections.

The Joint Commission heard from Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies, during their second hearing. Hansen explained to the committee why regular inspections hadn’t taken place and recommended how the state should move forward from the water crisis.

According to Hansen, Freedom Industries held a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, which the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) agency was responsible for enforcing. The WVDEP failed to regulate Freedom Industries or enforce their NPDES permit.

Hansen suggested that the state government should make clear their expectations for regulation of these storage tanks to the WVDEP. Additionally, the WVDEP should be held fully accountable for comprehensively and regularly enforcing permits and all environmental laws.

Under Hansen’s recommendations, the WVDEP would be required to inspect all NPDES-permitted sites, inspecting the most critical sites first. Hansen believes that the governor and Legislature will have to increase funding and staffing for the WVDEP’s environmental enforcement programs to ensure that they have the resources to enforce permits and inspect all NPDES-permit sites.

After hearing from experts, Senator John Unger, chair of the Joint Commission on State Water Resources, has taken the lead on Senate Bill 373, a bill that he, along with many other Senators, believe would protect all West Virginians from experiencing chemical spills due to faulty holding tanks and lack of regulation.

“This was a wake-up call to show water resources are very vulnerable, particularly drinking water for citizens, businesses and farmers,” said Unger. “The mandate (the committee) is charged with is the protection of natural resources — our duty and responsibility is to make recommendations on future legislation to address this issue.”

The bill would require all aboveground storage facilities that store any liquid other than water and aren’t currently registered or being inspected, to be registered with the Secretary of State’s office and inspected regularly by the WVDEP.

Senate Bill 373 seeks to protect the water of all West Virginia residents, not only those affected by the chemical leak at Freedom Industries.

“This is not just a problem for Charleston or for that matter it’s not just a problem related to above-ground storage tanks — this is a problem that affects all of us that drink water in West Virginia,” said Hansen during the hearing.

Other areas of concern in the state include Morgantown with 55 sites of critical concern and Huntington with 424 sites of critical concern. Water contamination due to a chemical leak could happen anywhere in the state, but this legislation would help to make certain all liquid holding tanks are registered and being maintained adequately.

The bill was passed through the Senate Natural Resources Committee and must be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee before it is brought to the floor for consideration.