W. Va. Code R. § 47-30-2

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 23, June 7, 2024

Section 47-30-2 - Definitions

The definitions set forth in W. Va. Code § 22-11-3 apply to this rule along with the following definitions, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

2.1. "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or an authorized representative of the administrator.

2.2. "Applicable Standards and Limitations" means all State, interstate, and federal standards and limitations to which a discharge or a related activity is subject under Clean Water Act (CWA) §§301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 308, 403, and 405 and Article 11 of Chapter 22 of the West Virginia Code, including effluent limitations, water quality standards, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards or prohibitions, best management practices, and pretreatment standards.

2.3. "Article 11" means the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act, W. Va. Code § 22-11-1, et seq.

2.4. "Average Monthly Discharge Limitation" means the highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that month.

2.5. "Best Management Practices" or "BMPs" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the State. BMPs may include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal or drainage from raw material storage.

2.6. "Best Professional Judgment" or "BPJ" means the Secretary's highest quality technical opinion forming the basis for the terms and conditions of the treatment level required after consideration of all reasonably available and pertinent data, including background water quality data. The treatment levels shall be established by the Secretary under the Clean Water Act (CWA) Sections 301 and 402.

2.7. "Clean Water Act" or "CWA" means Public Law 92-500, as amended by Public Law 95-217Public Law 95-576; 33 U.S.C. §1251, et seq. (formerly referred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972).

2.8. "Continuous Discharge" means a discharge that occurs without interruption throughout the operating hours of the facility, except for infrequent shutdowns for maintenance, process changes, or other similar activities.

2.9. "Coal Mines and Preparation Plants and All Refuse and Waste Therefrom" means any point source covered under 40 C.F.R. Part 434 and any coal mine, coal preparation plant, coal preparation plant associated areas, refuse pile, coal waste pile or other related activity, including any related sewage treatment facilities and bath houses required to have a permit under CWA or Article 11, but excluding dredging operations or the extraction of coal incidental to the extraction of other minerals where coal does not exceed sixteen and two-thirds percent (162/3%) of the tonnage of minerals removed for purposes of commercial use or sale.

2.10. "Coal Mine" or "Mine" means the area, and any related structures, on and beneath land used or disturbed in activity related to the extraction, removal or recovery of coal.

2.11. "Coal Preparation Plant" means a facility where coal is subjected to cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation in order to separate coal from its impurities and is loaded for transit to a consuming facility.

2.12. "Coal Preparation Plant Associated Areas" means the coal preparation plant yards, immediate access roads, coal refuse piles, tipples, loadouts, and coal storage piles and facilities.

2.13. "Coal Remining Operation" means a coal mining operation at a site on which coal mining was previously conducted and where the site has been abandoned or the performance bond has been forfeited.

2.14. "Daily Discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant measured during a calendar day or within any specified period that reasonably represents the calendar day for purposes of sampling. For pollutants with limitations expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is calculated as the total mass of the pollutant discharged over the day. For pollutants with limitations expressed in other units of measurement, the daily discharge is calculated as the average measurement of the pollutant over the day.

2.15. "Discharge" means, when used without qualification, the discharge of a pollutant.

2.16. "Discharge of a Pollutant" means:

2.16.a. Any addition of any pollutant or combination of pollutants to waters of the State from any point source; and

2.16.b. Additions of pollutants into waters of the State from: surface runoff that is collected or channeled by man; discharges through pipes, other conveyances owned by a person that do not lead to a treatment works; and discharges through pipes, sewers or other conveyances leading into privately owned treatment works. This term does not include an addition of pollutants by any indirect discharger.

2.17. "Discharge Monitoring Report" or "DMR" means the form(s) prescribed by the Secretary and approved by EPA for the reporting of self-monitoring results by permittees under WV/NPDES.

2.18. "Draft Permit" means a document prepared under subsection 10.1 of this rule indicating the Secretary's tentative decision to issue, modify, reissue, suspend or revoke a permit.

2.19. "Effluent Limitation" means any restriction established by State or federal law on quantities, discharge rates, and concentrations of pollutants that are discharged from point sources into waters of the State.

2.20. "Effluent Limitations Guidelines" means a regulation published by the Administrator to adopt or revise effluent limitations under CWA Section 304(b) or to adopt or revise levels of effluent quality attainable through the application of secondary or equivalent treatment under CWA Section 301(b)(1)(B). For the coal industry, such regulations are published at 40 C.F.R. Part 434. Sewage facilities governed by this rule are covered under 40 C.F.R. Part 133.

2.21. "Environmental Protection Agency" or "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

2.22. "Existing Source" means any coal mine or preparation plant and all refuse or waste therefrom:

2.22.a. From which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants that commenced prior to September 19, 1977; and

2.22.b. That is not a new source.

2.23. "Facility" or "Activity" means any coal mine or preparation plant and all refuse and waste therefrom or any other facility or activity (including land or appurtenances thereto) that is subject to the provisions of this rule.

2.24. "General Permit" means a WV/NPDES permit authorizing a category of discharges within a geographical area.

2.25. "Hazardous Substance" means any substance designated under 40 C.F.R. Part 116 pursuant to CWA Section 311.

2.26. "Indirect Discharger" means a nondomestic discharger introducing pollutants into publicly owned treatment works.

2.27. "Interstate Agency" means an agency of two or more states, including West Virginia, established by an agreement or compact approved by Congress, or any other agency of two or more states including West Virginia having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator under the CWA and rules promulgated thereunder.

2.28. "Major Facility" means any WV/NPDES facility or activity classified as such by the Secretary or by the Regional Administrator in conjunction with the Secretary.

2.29. "Maximum Daily Discharge Limitation" means the highest allowable daily discharge.

2.30. "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" or "NPDES" means the national program for issuing, denying, modifying, revoking and reissuing, suspending, revoking, monitoring and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements under CWA Sections 307, 318, 402, and 405, including any approved State program.

2.31. "New Source" means any coal mining facility covered under 40 C.F.R. Part 434, including an abandoned mine that is being remined, the construction of which is commenced after the date of promulgation of a new source performance standard (NSPS) or of the proposal of a NSPS that is subsequently promulgated in accordance with Section 306 of CWA.

2.31.a. In making the determination of major alteration, the Secretary shall take into account whether one or more of the following events resulted in a new, altered or increased discharge of pollutants after the date of a new source performance standard or of the proposal of a new source performance standard subsequently promulgated in accordance with Section 306 of the CWA:

2.31.a.1. Extraction of a coal seam not previously extracted by that mine;

2.31.a.2. Discharge into a drainage area not previously affected by wastewater discharge from the facility covered under 40 C.F.R. Part 434;

2.31.a.3. Extensive new surface disruption at the mining operation; or

2.31.a.4. Construction of a new shaft, slope or drift.

2.31.b. For a preparation plant or associated areas under 40 C.F.R. Part 434, a new source shall be a preparation plant or associated area, the construction of which is commenced after the date of promulgation of a new source performance standard (NSPS) or of the proposal of a NSPS that is subsequently promulgated in accordance with Section 306 of the CWA and that meets the criteria of subsection 12.3 of this rule.

2.31.c. No provision in this definition shall be deemed to affect the classification of a facility as a new source that was so classified under previous EPA regulations, but would not be classified as a new source under this definition. Nor shall any provision in this definition be deemed to affect the standards applicable to such facilities, except as provided in subsection 12.3 of this rule.

2.32. "Operator" means any person, firm, or company who is granted or who should obtain a WV/NPDES permit.

2.33. "Owner" means the owner of the facility subject to regulation.

2.34. "Point Source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

2.35. "Privately Owned Treatment Works" means any device or system that is used to treat wastes other than the owner's wastes and is not a POTW as defined in 47 C.S.R. 10 §2.43.

2.36. "Process Wastewater" means any water that, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct contact with or results from the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, byproduct or waste product.

2.37. "Proposed Permit" means a WV/NPDES permit prepared after the close of the comment period (and, when applicable, any public hearing) and that is sent to EPA for review before final issuance by the Secretary, pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement between West Virginia and EPA dated May 10, 1982.

2.38. "Real Time Water Quality Control" means the establishment of an effluent limitation that is based upon a stream-flow-to-discharge-flow ratio, determined by the known characteristics of the stream and the discharge.

2.39. "Recommencing Discharger" means a source that recommences discharge after terminating operations.

2.40. "Regional Administrator" means the Regional Administrator of Region III of the Environmental Protection Agency or his or her authorized representative.

2.41. "Reissuance" means the issuance of a permit to a facility that has a previously issued effective permit and includes automatic revocation of the previously issued permit.

2.42. "Schedule of Compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures in a WV/NPDES permit, including an enforceable sequence of interim requirements (for example, actions, operations, or milestone events) leading to compliance with the CWA, Article 11, and rules promulgated thereunder.

2.43. "Secretary" means the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and his or her authorized representative.

2.44. "Site" means the land or water area where any facility or activity is physically located or conducted, including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or activity.

2.45. "State" means the State of West Virginia.

2.46. "Total Dissolved Solids" (TDS) means the total dissolved filterable solids as determined by the use of the method specified in 40 C.F.R. Part 136.

2.47. "Toxic Pollutant" means any pollutant listed as a toxic under CWA Section 307(a)(1) (see Appendix A of this rule).

2.48. "Variance" means any mechanism or provision under CWA Sections 301 or 316 or under 40 C.F.R. Part 125 or in the applicable effluent limitations guidelines that allows modification to or waiver of the generally applicable effluent limitation requirements or time deadlines of the CWA. This includes provisions that allow the establishment of alternative limitations based on fundamentally different factors or on CWA Sections 301(c), 301(g), 301(i), 302(b)(2), and 316(a) where appropriate.

2.49. "West Virginia Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act" or "WVSCMRA" means W. Va. Code § 22-3-1, et seq.

2.50. "WV/NPDES Application" or "Application" means the forms prescribed by the Secretary and approved by the EPA for applying for a permit or permit modification, including any additions, revisions or modifications to the WV/NPDES forms.

2.51. "WV/NPDES Permit" or "Permit" means an authorization issued by the Secretary to implement the requirements of Article 11 and this rule, including modifications to permits.

2.52. "Wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal conditions do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

W. Va. Code R. § 47-30-2