West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 60 - Environmental Protection - Secretary's Office › Title 60 - LEGISLATIVE RULE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION OF WATER AND WASTE MANAGEMENT › Series 60-03 - Voluntary Remediation and Redevelopment Rule › Section 60-3-2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, the
				  definitions contained in W. Va. Code §§
									22-22-2
				  and
				  22-22B-2
				  apply to this rule, in addition to those definitions set forth below:
2.1. "Act" means the Voluntary Remediation
				and Redevelopment Act, W. Va. Code §
									22-22-1,
				et seq.
2.2. "Anthropogenic
				background" means concentrations of chemicals that are present in the
				environment due to human activities unrelated to operation at the
				site.
2.3. "Applicant" means a
				person who is applying or has applied to participate in the Voluntary
				Remediation Program.
2.4.
				"Brownfields Revolving Fund applicant" means a person who is applying or has
				applied to participate in the Voluntary Remediation Program for a brownfield
				property and who is seeking or has obtained site assessment or remediation
				moneys from the Brownfields Revolving Fund.
2.5. "Carcinogen" means any substance which
				can cause cancer.
2.6. "Conceptual
				site model" means a description of possible contaminant sources, migration
				pathways, exposure routes, and human and/or ecological receptors. The
				conceptual site model depicts complete exposures, as well as exposures that
				have been, or are presumed to be, severed using activity and use limitations
				and/or engineering controls (e.g., land-use covenants, caps, and
				covers).
2.7. "Contaminant of
				concern" means a contaminant of potential concern that is present at a site at
				a concentration that requires implementation of a remedy to achieve the desired
				remediation standard.
2.8.
				"Contaminant of potential concern" means a chemical that may be present at a
				site based on current or historical site use.
2.9. "Cumulative site risk" means the
				summation of risks to a human receptor or ecological receptor from one or more
				contaminants released at the site over a period of time.
2.10. "Day" means the 24-hour period between
				12:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.
2.11. "De
				minimis risks" means those risks that are so trivial that they would not
				require remediation under this rule.
2.12. "Ecological receptors of concern" means
				specific ecological communities, populations, or individual organisms protected
				by federal, State, or local laws and regulations or those local populations
				which provide important natural or economic resources, functions, and values.
2.13. "Ecosystem" means an
				integrated, self-functioning system consisting of interactions among both the
				biotic community and abiotic environment within a specified location in space
				and time. Sizes of ecosystems may vary considerably.
2.14. "Endangered or threatened species"
				means any plant or animal species identified as endangered or threatened
				pursuant to federal, State, or local laws.
2.15. "Exposure" means contact by an organism
				with a chemical or physical agent. Exposure is quantified as the amount of the
				agent available at the exchange boundaries of the organism (e.g., skin, lungs,
				gut) and available for absorption.
2.16. "Exposure factors" means values used to
				estimate exposure in risk assessment, such as the number of days per week that
				a person may expect exposure or the amount of contaminated media that a person
				might incidentally ingest per day.
2.17. "Exposure pathway" means the physical
				course a chemical or pollutant takes from its source to the organism
				exposed.
2.18. "Exposure route"
				means the way a chemical or physical agent comes in contact with a receptor
				(e.g., by eating [ingestion], breathing [inhalation], or touching [dermal
				contact]).
2.19. "Fate and
				transport" means the behavior and movement of a chemical through an
				environmental medium.
2.20. "Free
				product" means regulated substance present as a nonaqueous phase liquid (e.g.,
				liquid not dissolved in water). These substances include liquid petroleum
				products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, or oil, and any hazardous
				substance either listed in § 101(14) of CERCLA or defined in § 1004
				of RCRA. For petroleum hydrocarbons, the term nonaqueous phase liquid includes
				both liquid phase and residual phase hydrocarbons. Liquid phase product is
				capable of flowing downward and/or laterally into wells or excavations.
				Typically, free product exists as a pool or mound floating on the water table
				or resting on an impermeable soil layer. Residual phase product does not
				generally flow as a liquid; it occurs as globules within fractures or pores of
				soil or bedrock.
2.21. "Habitat"
				means the area or type of environment in which an organism or biological
				population naturally lives or is found.
2.22. "Hazard index" means the sum of the
				hazard quotients for multiple substances and/or multiple exposure
				pathways.
2.23. "Hazard quotient"
				means the value which quantifies noncarcinogenic risk for one chemical for one
				receptor population over a specified exposure period. The hazard quotient is
				equal to the ratio of a chemical-specific intake to the reference dose.
2.24. "Hourly rate" means the
				gross annual salary plus fringe benefits paid to an employee, plus the indirect
				cost rate calculated as a percentage of salary (as negotiated and established
				with the federal government through the U.S. Department of the Interior,
				National Business Center, in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 225), divided by
				2080.
2.25. "Implementability"
				means the technical and administrative feasibility of an action, as well as the
				availability of needed goods and services.
2.26. "Industrial land use" means land used
				for commercial establishments, manufacturing plants, public utilities, mining,
				distribution of goods or services, administration of business activities,
				research and development facilities, warehousing, shipping, transporting,
				remanufacturing, stockpiling of raw materials, storage, repair and maintenance
				of commercial machinery or equipment, and waste management.
2.27. "Leaching potential" means the
				potential for soluble constituents to be dissolved and filter through the soil
				by a percolating fluid.
2.28.
				"Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Level or LOAEL" means the lowest concentration
				or dose evaluated in a test that causes statistically significant adverse
				effects in experimental trials.
2.29. "Natural background" means ambient
				concentrations of chemicals that are present in the environment and have not
				been influenced by humans (e.g., iron, manganese).
2.30. "New information" means any information
				the Department obtains directly or indirectly from any person after the
				Secretary issues a Certificate of Completion, but does not include information
				the Department received in the application for participation in the Voluntary
				Remediation Program, including any site assessment during the execution of the
				Voluntary Remediation Agreement or any work plan developed under such an
				agreement, or other information available to the Department under the Voluntary
				Remediation Program prior to the execution of the Certificate of Completion.
				The Secretary may consider information that does not qualify as new information
				along with new information, if necessary, to determine whether any of the
				conditions for reopening set out in section 16 of this rule have occurred.
2.31. "No further action" means a
				site is eligible to receive a Certificate of Completion on the basis of site
				assessment sampling or sampling data developed under a Voluntary Remediation
				Agreement which demonstrates that the site meets all applicable
				standards.
2.32. "No Observed
				Adverse Effect Level or NOAEL" means the highest concentration or dose
				evaluated in a test that does not cause statistically significant adverse
				effects in experimental trials.
2.33. "Primary employee" means a voluntary
				remediation project manager, engineer, or scientist employed by the Secretary
				in negotiating, facilitating, overseeing, or confirming a voluntary remediation
				project. The term does not include secretaries, paralegals, clerks,
				technicians, or others who serve to support the activities of the primary
				employee.
2.34. "Probabilistic risk
				assessment" means a risk assessment performed using a mathematical technique
				that produces a distribution of values for a calculated term by solving for
				that term in successive iterations. Each successive iteration requires the
				selection of a single input value from defined distribution(s) for each of the
				terms used to derive the calculated term.
2.35. "Readily apparent harm" means visual
				evidence of stressed biota attributable to the release at the site, including,
				but not limited to, fish kills or abiotic conditions, or the visible presence
				of oil, tar, or other non-aqueous phase contaminant in soil over an area equal
				to or greater than two acres, or over an area equal to or greater than 1,000
				square feet in sediment.
2.36.
				"Reasonably anticipated future use" means potential future land and water uses
				which have a credible chance of occurrence.
2.37. "Reasonable potential" means a scenario
				with a credible chance of occurrence without considering extreme or highly
				unlikely circumstances.
2.38.
				"Receptors (human)" means humans potentially exposed to contaminants released
				from the site.
2.39. "Reopener"
				means one or more of the grounds for setting aside some or all of a Certificate
				of Completion and reopening a Voluntary Remediation Agreement that is specified
				in section 16 of this rule.
2.40.
				"Residential land use" means any real property or portion thereof which is used
				for housing human beings. This term includes property used for schools, day
				care centers, nursing homes, or other residential-style facilities or
				recreational areas.
2.41.
				"Risk-based concentrations" means concentration levels developed by the
				Secretary for individual chemicals that correspond to a specific incremental
				cancer risk level of 1x10-6 for residential land use and 1x10-5 for industrial
				land use or a hazard quotient of 1. These concentrations are to be used as De
				Minimis Standards.
2.42.
				"Saturation concentration" means the maximum possible quantity of a substance
				that can dissolve in a standard volume of a specific solvent (e.g., water)
				under standard conditions of temperature and pressure.
2.43. "Site assessment" means
				characterization of a site through an evaluation of its physical and
				environmental characteristics (e.g., subsurface geology, soil properties and
				structures, hydrology, and surface characteristics) to determine if a release
				has occurred; the levels of the chemical(s) of concern in environmental media;
				and the likely physical distribution of the chemical(s) of concern. The site
				assessment involves the collection of data as needed on groundwater and surface
				water quality, land and resource use, and potential receptors, which
				information is used to support remedial action decisions.
2.44. "Systemic toxicant" means a harmful
				substance or agent that may enter the body and injure an organ or organ system
				and have an effect other than causing cancer. Most chemicals that produce
				systemic toxicity do not cause a similar degree of toxicity in all organs, but
				usually demonstrate major toxicity to one or two organs.
2.45. "Total dissolved solids" means all
				material that passes through the standard glass fiber filter as provided in the
				current edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and
				Wastewater.
2.46. "Trade secrets"
				means any information protected from disclosure pursuant to the West Virginia
				Freedom of Information Act, W. Va. Code §
									29B-1-4(a)(1).
2.47. "Voluntary Remediation Program" means
				the program for the voluntary assessment and remediation of sites under the
				Act.
2.48. "Weight-of-evidence
				approach" means the process by which measurement endpoints are related to an
				assessment endpoint to evaluate whether a significant risk of harm is posed to
				the environment. The approach is planned and initiated at the problem
				formulation stage and results are integrated at the risk characterization
				stage.