Senate votes to loosen regulations on above ground storage tanks
By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Senate, on Friday, passed the engrossed committee substitute of Senate Bill 592, removing regulations for certain above ground storage tanks.
Senator Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, chair of the Senate Energy, Industry, and Mining Committee, explained the bill’s intent.
“Senate Bill 592 scales back authority of the AboveGround Storage Tank Act (AST) by setting limits on the number of inspections that can be required by the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) under certain circumstances,” Rose said. “Additionally, three categories of above ground storage tanks will become exempt from the requirement that they be inspected by certain certified professionals. The tanks falling within these categories will instead require self-inspection and self-reporting by the owner and operator.”
The AboveGround Storage Tank Act was passed following the Freedom Industries chemical leak that occurred in January 2014, resulting in crude Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) to be released into the Elk River in Kanawha County, according to the 2017 final investigation report.
After the bill was explained, Senator Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, stated that he would be a no vote.
“The AST act, which is better called the tank act, passed in 2014,” Hamilton began. “It originally regulated 42,047 above ground storage tanks. Since that time, there have been many bills to amend the act. Currently, the tank act for above ground storage tanks regulates 4,566 tanks. That represents 10.8 percent of the tanks in the state. 2,267 of these tanks are level one tanks, or tanks in the zone of critical concern of a drinking water source.”
Hamilton said that these tanks are in the zone of critical concern because they could have a large impact upon a drinking water source if they failed.
“This bill would remove 866 tanks that are in the zone of critical concern from all regulations other than the need to register them and label them,” Hamilton said. “The bill would also remove an additional 219 tanks from regulation by the act. With this change the act would now only regulate, if it’s passed, 8.3 percent of the tanks in the state of West Virginia.”
Hamilton added that testimony was provided in a committee meeting that these tanks were owned by small “mom and pop” oil and gas companies who “need a break.” However, the list includes large companies such as “Diversified Production, Antero Midstream, Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, Diversified Midstream, EQT Production Company, EQT XL Midstream Operating LLC and Blue Racer Midstream.”
“This bill is not about the small, local mom and pop companies,” Hamilton stated.
Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, also spoke against the bill, saying that he remembers January 9, 2014 when Freedom Industries experienced the leak.
“I remember a licorice smell in the air in the afternoon here in Charleston,” Garcia said. “I remember people calling home wondering what was going on, the water basically being cut off, the idea about whether, for a while, you could even go outside the Capitol – where I remember being.”
Garcia stated that the AST Act was written that session to ensure the regulation of above ground storage tanks.
“This bill is not about MCHM, it’s about oil and gas and those specific tanks, and I believe some coal tanks too, but it is about changing a system that went into effect because something terrible happened, and our drinking water was not protected at that time,” Garcia continued. “And, there will be people that would argue, ‘Well, it was a company failure,’ and it was. But, at that time back in 2014, the general consensus was we could stop this from happening, and that’s why these tanks that we’re talking about are the tanks that are closest to the ground water. It’s not every tank in the state of West Virginia.”
Garcia added that although testimony before committee members provided that these tanks are not harmful, “38% of all confirmed releases to the DEP last year were from these types of tanks,” and that cancer causing chemicals, like benzene, radium and barium, could be released.
“We’ve already seen this past year in McDowell County, Wyoming County where people were having trouble with their drinking water,” Garcia concluded. “I remember where I was January 9, and I remember that I don’t want to be there again.”
Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, also added that he would be a no vote.
“Based on what I hear from my constituents, the public really doesn’t expect much out of us from this session, or any session,” Woelfel said. “I’m pretty sure that one thing our citizens expect from us is to protect their drinking water. For that reason, I urge a no vote.”
Rose was able to close debate by stating that the AST Act was an “overreaction to what happened in 2014.”
“The coal and gas industries had nothing to do with that chemical spill,” Rose said. “That was actually first reported in 2010, and the state chose not to act.”
Rose said that the coal and gas industry “should not be punished for something that their industry did not do.”
“I will actually go on the record to say there has been zero fresh water contamination from the gas industry and their tanks. Zero,” Rose continued. “All this bill does is it corrects the overreaction, the industry that did that chemical spill would still be under this section of code, but some actors, who had nothing to do with it at all – coal and gas – will have regulatory burden eased.”
Rose said this is a pro-business bill, and that the coal and gas industries “account for about 120,000 jobs in this state” with an average compensation of over $100,000 per year.
“You want to talk about the industries that pay our state’s bills, I just named them,” Rose said. “That’s who keeps our lights on. That’s who keeps our state’s bills paid and they were punished for something they had nothing to do with.”
Senate Bill 592 passed with 25 yes votes, 7 no votes, and 2 members absent. It is now headed before the House for further consideration.
