§22-22-18 Environmental liability protection. - West Virginia Statutes

§22-22-18. Environmental liability protection.
(a) Any person demonstrating compliance with the applicable standards established in section three of this article, whether by remediation or where the site assessment shows that the contamination at the site meets applicable standards, shall be relieved of further liability for the remediation of the site under this chapter. Contamination identified in the remediation agreement submitted to and approved by the division shall not be subject to citizen suits or contribution actions. The protection from further remediation liability provided by this article applies to the following persons:

(1) The current or future owner or operator of the site, including development authorities and fiduciaries who participated in the remediation of the site;

(2) A person who develops or otherwise occupies the site;

(3) A successor or assign of any person to whom the liability protection applies;

(4) A public utility, as defined in section two, article one, chapter twenty-four of this code, and for the purpose of this article, a utility engaged in the storage and transportation of natural gas, to the extent the public utility performs activities on the site;

(5) A remediation contractor;

(6) A licensed remediation specialist; and

(7) A lender or developer who engages in the routine practices of commercial lending, including, but not limited to, providing financial services, holding of security interests, workout practices, foreclosure or the recovery of funds from the sale of a site.

(b) A person shall not be considered a person responsible for a release or a threatened release of contaminants simply by virtue of conducting or having a site assessment conducted. Nothing in this section relieves a person of any liability for failure to exercise due diligence in performing a site assessment.