Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 60-3-2 - DefinitionsUnless 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.