HB 3432 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Revising the statutes to clarify and separate duties identified in the code between the Division of Emergency Management and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

This bill revises West Virginia law to clarify and separate responsibilities between the Division of Emergency Management and the Department of Environmental Protection regarding industrial emergencies. It transfers the duty to investigate incidents reported to the Emergency Management Division and to enforce fines against industrial facilities, well operators, and pipeline operators to the Department of Environmental Protection. The change aims to align agency tasks with their specific expertise and resources. Industrial facilities required to report emergencies under the law will directly be affected by this shift in oversight.

Issues: ✓ Environment

Tags: Emergency Management

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 17, 2025 Last action Apr 1, 2025

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What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill reorganizes emergency response duties between two state agencies. The Division of Emergency Management now handles initial incident reporting and coordination, while the Department of Environmental Protection takes over investigation and enforcement of penalties. This change clarifies which agency has the resources and expertise for each phase of emergency response.

Scope change

The bill expands applicability to include well and pipeline operators under a new article, while maintaining existing requirements for industrial facilities. It also clarifies that the Department of Environmental Protection, not the Division of Emergency Management, is responsible for investigating violations and imposing penalties.

ENFORCEMENT

The Department of Environmental Protection now investigates violations and imposes civil penalties instead of the Division of Emergency Management

Civil penalties of up to $100,000 for industrial facilities and $2,500 to $50,000 for pipeline/well operators for non-compliance

SCOPE

New requirements specifically for well and pipeline operators to report incidents within 15 minutes

REQUIREMENT

Industrial facilities must contact the Mine and Industrial Accident Emergency Operations Center within 15 minutes of an emergency

Waiver provisions for penalties when failures were caused by circumstances outside the facility's control

DEFINITION

Clarified agency roles and responsibilities in emergency response coordination

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

By substitute, do pass

lower

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

To House Judiciary

lower

Mar 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

To Judiciary

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors