November 7, 2026 - Here is a letter sent by Region III of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) approving the state’s revised selenium fish tissue water quality criteria. 

Proposed by WV DEP in 2025 and codified by the West Virginia Legislature in the 2026 Regular Session, the change revises the statewide fish tissue (whole body) criteria for waters that do not contain sturgeon fish species from the current 8.0 ug/g standard to 9.5 ug/g.  The new 9.5 ug/g fish tissue standard applies to all state waters except for the mainstem of the Ohio River and the Kanawha River east from its confluence with the Ohio River at Point Pleasant to Kanawha Falls (Fayette County, W.Va.) 

Where sturgeon species are present, the fish tissue standard is revised from the current 8.0 ug/g to 8.5 ug/g.

EPA’s approval follows the completion of formal consultation on the revised criteria by the West Virginia Field Office of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (F&WS) under the requirements of the federal Endangered Species Act.   

The revised tissue standards were submitted on March 27 of this year and were under review at EPA for 224 days.  The F&WS received the consultation request from EPA on October 7 and completed the ESA review this morning.  A copy of the F&WS consultation letter to EPA can be found here. 

***NOTE:  EPA’s letter represents “final approval action” and the standards are in full effect in West Virginia.  However, existing NPDES permits must be revised to reflect the new fish tissue standards.  The Association will be sending a subsequent memo and convening a virtual meeting, after discussions with WV DEP, to detail the process and timelines for revising existing NPDES with updated effluent limits to reflect the new tissue standards.***

The complete state administrative rulemaking record on the selenium tissue criteria can be viewed at https://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/ruleview.aspx?document=18278&KeyWord=