By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A panel of West Virginia lawmakers has approved giving up its power to review environmental regulator-approved changes to water pollution control permit limits based on revisions to water quality criteria for human health.
The West Virginia Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee on Wednesday approved the provision proposed by the state Department of Environmental Protection that will quicken the public review process for evaluating future adjustments to water toxin levels deemed acceptable.
If approved by the full Legislature during the regular legislative session, the rule would remove committee approval as a requirement for revisions of human health criteria, a move that environmentalists and concerned citizens have decried as a loophole for industry.
Human health ambient water quality criteria represent specific levels of chemicals or conditions in a water body that are not expected to cause adverse effects to human health, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition…
