Revisions to Coal Mining NPDES Rule Approved by Legislative Rulemaking Review Committee

On Wednesday the Legislature’s Rulemaking Review Committee (LRRC) http://www.legis.state.wv.us/committees/interims/committee.cfm?abb=rmr approved revisions to the state’s coal mining NPDES rule (47 CSR 30) to implement the provisions of Senate Bill (SB) 615 which was passed in the 2012 Regular Session. The Legislature passed SB 615 http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB615%20SUB1%20enr.htm&yr=2012&sesstype=RS&i=615to address a unique provision of the coal mining NPDES rule that did not exist in either the federal regulations or the West Virginia non-coal NPDES permitting rule. Under this provision, coal mining permit holders were held responsible for compliance with ALL state water quality standards regardless of whether or not their NPDES permit contained actual effluent limits for a given parameter. SB 615 corrected this peculiar language in the coal mining NPDES statute and provides coal operations with the same permit protection that permit holders have in other states and non-coal permit holders have in West Virginia.

For clarity, the agency proposed a revision to the rule in light of the passage of SB 615. The revisions were published for public comment in July 2012 and a public hearing was held on the proposed changes on August 7, 2012. The only substantive comments the agency received on the proposed revisions were those filed by the Association. Now that the rule has been approved by the LRRC, it will be introduced as a bill and be considered in the 2013 Regular Session. For a copy of the proposed revisions contact jbostic@wvcoal.com