Licensed Remediation Specialist Test Set For September 19

In West Virginia, the Voluntary Remediation and Redevelopment Act (W. Va. Code Chapter 22, Article 22) provides  liability protection for anyone who remediates  a brownfield site or cleans up other environmental contamination in accordance with the terms of the Act.  The person undertaking  the remediation must have a plan designed by, and overseen by, a Licensed Remediation Specialist, or LRS.  To qualify as a LRS, one must pass a test that is given periodically by the DEP.  The next such LRS  test is scheduled for September 19.  See the announcement from the DEP, below.

            CHARLESTON – The Department of Environmental Protection is announcing that the next examination for licensed remediation specialist certification will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on September 19, 2012 at Graduate College – South Charleston Campus, Room 205 of the Robert C. Byrd Academic Center Building, 100 Angus E. Peyton Drive, South Charleston, West Virginia.

      Certification is required for anyone submitting voluntary remediation and brownfields cleanup designs to the agency’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) for review.

      To qualify for the exam, you must have a bachelor’s degree in an approved scientific field and at least six years of relevant professional experience. You can also qualify with a high school diploma and 10 years of relevant professional experience. In either case, you must have at least one year of supervisory or project management experience.

      To take the exam, register online at www.dep.wv.gov. Under the Office of Environmental Remediation, go to the licensed remediation specialist online application and follow the instructions. Fees of $300 for the application and

$250 for the examination are required.  Online applications must be received by September 5, 2012.

      Only approved candidates with picture identification cards will be admitted to the testing site. Photo identification and the $250 testing fee must be presented before the exam starts.

      For more information about the exam, call Jamie Wolfe, CEGAS Manager, at (304) 696-6042, or by email at jawolfe@marshall.edu. Marshall University

(CEGAS) administers the licensing exam for OER.

      The legislature enacted the voluntary remediation and brownfields law during the 1996 legislative session. Voluntary remediation involves a responsible party cleaning up a site for future development, and brownfields involves clean up by a third party.