(a) Findings.
(1) West Virginia Code 8-12-5 gives plenary power and authority for municipalities to control and administer waterfronts and waterways; to prohibit the accumulation and require the disposal of garbage, refuse, waste, ashes, trash and other similar matters; to prevent injury or annoyance to the public or individuals from anything dangerous, offensive or unwholesome; to protect and promote the public morals, safety, health, welfare and good order; to provide for the elimination of hazards to public health and safety and to abate or cause to be abated anything which in the opinion of the majority of the governing body is a public nuisance; and
(2) Council finds that permanent disposal of hazardous wastes within the City is a nuisance in that it may depreciate property values; have an adverse impact on the City's ability to attract new business and industry and encourage expansion of existing business and industry; create a continuing serious anxiety and concern among City residents and visitors concerning the existence of a permanent hazardous waste disposal site within the City, all of which are offensive and constitute injury and annoyance to the public and individuals; and
(3) Council finds that prohibition of the permanent disposal of hazardous waste will protect and promote the public morals, safety, health, welfare and good order in the City.
(b) Definitions.
(1) "Permanent disposal" or "permanently dispose" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placement of any hazardous waste into, on, above, or below any land or water which waste is to remain or which has remained at a disposal site within the City for a continuous period of five years and which is not intended to be removed from such site.
(2) "Hazardous waste" means a waste or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality, or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when stored. Provided, however, that hazardous waste shall include only those whose disposal would require a state or federal hazardous waste permit.
(3) "Person" means any individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, public or private or governmental corporation, partnership, association, state or federal agency.
(4) "Storage" means the otherwise local containment of hazardous wastes which wastes are not intended to be permanently disposed of at any site within the City.
(5) "Waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge, or other discarded material including solid, liquid, semisolid or containing gaseous material resulting from industrial or commercial mining or agricultural operations, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage.
(c) Prohibition.
(1) No person shall permanently dispose or attempt to permanently dispose hazardous waste within the City. Provided, however, that storage of hazardous wastes by duly licensed and tax paying enterprises shall not be prohibited.
(2) No person shall permanently dispose or attempt to permanently dispose of any material, including but not limited to clothing, that contains any hazardous waste residue, into the City's sanitation system.
(d) Nuisance. In the event any person shall dispose or establish a site for the permanent disposal of hazardous waste in violation of the provisions of this article, the City Attorney is authorized, upon instructions from the Mayor, in addition to other penalties set forth herein, to institute any appropriate civil action or proceedings to prevent such disposal of hazardous waste, the same being deemed a public nuisance.
(e) Safeguards. Any person operating any facility in the City which produces any hazardous waste shall take adequate means to safeguard the public from exposure to such hazardous wastes including the prevention of entry onto the facility grounds by children. Such measure shall include fencing where appropriate. However, a person shall not be required to provide safeguards that are not required by Title 42, Sec. 6921 et seq., of the United States Code and the Rules and Regulations promulgated thereunder.
(f) Penalties. Any person who shall violates a provision of this article or fails to comply with any of the requirements hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars. Each day that a violation continues or has not been totally abated, shall be deemed a separate offense.
(Passed 1-12-88; Ord. 390. Passed 7-15-13.)