By Mike Tony Staff, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s deputy secretary told state lawmakers earlier this month the department did not support a proposed bill that would relax oversight of certain oil and gas tanks located near public water intakes.
Scott Mandirola explained to the House Health and Human Resources Committee that efforts to prevent drinking water contamination from oil and gas tanks would not be as effective without the tank oversight that House Bill 2598 would erase.
Mandirola said 887 tanks would no longer be regulated under the Aboveground Storage Tank Act as of last month if House Bill 2598 became law, according to Department of Environmental Protection data. The DEP currently must inspect tanks within zones of critical concern at least once every three years; the state defines a zone of critical concern as consisting of a five-hour water-travel time in streams to a water intake.
Current law also requires tank operators to submit spill prevention response plans, as well as registration and certified inspection of such tanks…