PUBLIC LAWS OF MAINE
Second Special Session of the 118th

PART B

     Sec. B-1. 38 MRSA §352, sub-§2, ¶A, as amended by PL 1991, c. 384, §1 and affected by §16, is further amended to read:

A. Except for those fees assessed under section sections 353-A and 353-B, processing fees must be assessed for costs incurred in determining the acceptability of an application for processing and in processing an application to determine whether it meets statutory and regulatory criteria.

     Sec. B-2. 38 MRSA §352, sub-§2, ¶C, as amended by PL 1991, c. 384, §2 and affected by §16, is further amended to read:

C. Except for those fees assessed under section sections 353-A and 353-B, licensing fees must be assessed for direct costs incurred in monitoring, inspecting and sampling to ensure proper compliance by a licensee.

     Sec. B-3. 38 MRSA §352, sub-§2, ¶F, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 735, §2, is amended to read:

F. Waste discharge license fees assessed under section 352 353-B for facilities licensed under section Title 36, section 656 and sections 362-A, 413, 418, 451 and 1101 must be used to support activities for water quality control operations, including licensing, compliance evaluation, monitoring, data acquisition, data management and administration.

     Sec. B-4. 38 MRSA §352, sub-§5-A, as amended by PL 1995, c. 704, Pt. A, §1 and affected

     by Pt. C, §2, is further amended by amending Table I to read:

TABLE I

MAXIMUM FEES IN DOLLARS

TITLE 36 PROCESSING CERTIFICATION
SECTION FEE FEE

656, sub-§1, ¶E,
Pollution Control
Facilities

     A. Water pollution $250 $20

control facilities
with capacities at
least 4,000 gallons
of waste per day and
§1760, sub-§29, water
pollution control
facilities

     B. Air pollution 250 20

control and §1760,
sub-§30, air pollution

     control facilities

TITLE 38 PROCESSING LICENSE
SECTION FEE FEE

344, sub-§7, Permit by rule $50 $0
362-A. Experiments 175 175
413, Waste discharge licenses See section 353-B

A. Residential
(10-year term) 450 150
B. Commercial
(10-year term)

1. Flow of less than
2,000 gallons per day 4,800 1,280
2. Flow of 2,000 to
20,000 gallons per
day inclusive 4,800 4,000
3. Flow of greater
than 20,000 gallons
per day 4,800 9,600

C. Industrial minor
(based upon EPA list
of major and minor
source discharges)

1. Discharges of 1,500 480
cooling water,
sanitary wastewater
or treated storm water
only
2. All others 1,500 6,000

D. Industrial major
(based upon EPA list of
major source discharges)

1. Discharge of 4,800 3,000
cooling water or
sanitary wastewater
only
2. All others 4,800 8,800

E. Publicly owned
treatment works

1. Flow of less 100 400
than or equal to
50,000 gallons per
day and no significant
industrial component
2. Flow of greater 100 1,400
than 50,000 gallons
per day, but less
than 0.5 million
gallons per day and
no significant
industrial component
3. Flow of at least 100 3,600
0.5 million gallons
per day, but less
than 5 million
gallons per day and
no significant
industrial component
4. Flow of at least 300 5,400
5 million gallons per
day or a significant
industrial component

F. Special discharges

1. Aquatic pesticides 130 75
2. Dredge spoils 130 75

418, Log storage 55 25
451, Mixing zones 1,200 2,200
451-A, Time schedule 25 25
variances
480-E, Natural resources
protection

A. Any alteration of a 140 50
protected natural resource,
except coastal wetlands and
coastal sand dunes, causing
less than 20,000 square feet
of alteration of the resource
B. Any alteration of a 240 60
coastal wetland causing less
than 20,000 square feet of
alteration of the resource
C. Any alteration of a .015/sq. ft. 005/sq. ft.
protected natural alteration alteration
resource, except coastal
sand dunes, causing 20,000
square feet or more of
alteration of the resource
D. Any alteration of a 3,500 1,500
coastal sand dune
E. Condition compliance 84 0
F. Minor modification 184 0

485-A, Site location of development

A. Residential subdivisions

1. Affordable housing 50/lot 50/lot

2. On public water and
sewers 175/lot 175/lot
3. All Other 250/lot 250/lot

B. Industrial parks 460/lot 460/lot
C. Mining 1,500 1,000
D. Structures 4,000 2,000
D-1.Traffic
Scoping meeting

with no further review 500 0

Scoping meeting with

further review 500 1,500

"Scoping meeting" refers

to the process described
in section 484,
subsection 2, para-
graph B

E. Other 1,000 1,000

543, Oily waste discharge 40 160
560, Vessels at anchorage 125 100
587, Ambient air quality 5,050 50
or emissions standards
variances
590, Air emissions licenses See section 353-A
633, Hydropower projects

A. New or expanded 450/MW 50/MW
generating capacity
B. Maintenance and 150 50
repair or other
structural alterations
not involving an
increase in generating
capacity

1101, Sanitary districts 150 50
33 United States Code,
Chapter 26, Water Quality
Certifications, in conjunction
with applications for
hydropower project licensing
or relicensing

A. Initial consultation 1,000 0
B. Second consultation 1,000 0
C. Application

1. Storage 1,000 0
2. Generating 300/MW 50/MW

1304, Waste management

A. Septage disposal

1. Site designation 50 25

B. Land application of
sludges and residuals
program approval

1. Industrial sludge 400 400
2. Municipal sludge 300 275
3. Bioash 300 275
4. Wood ash 300 75
5. Food waste 300 75
6. Other residuals 300 175

C. Landfill

1. Closing plans for 1,500 1,500
nonmunicipal landfills
2. Closing plans for 500 500
municipal landfills
3. Variance requests 175 175
for attenuation land-
fills
4. Preliminary 175 175
information reports
5. License transfers 500 175
6. Special waste
disposal

a. One-time 50 50
disposal of
quantities of
6 cubic yards or
less
b. One-time 100 100
disposal of
quantities greater
than 6 cubic yards
c. Program approval 300 300
for routine disposal
of a special waste

D. Incineration facility

1. Fuel substitution 1,575 1,500
activities
2. License transfer 175 175

E. License transfer other 100 100
than for landfills and
incinerators

     Sec. B-5. 38 MRSA §353, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1993, c. 735, §7, is further amended to read:

     2. Processing fee. Except for annual air emission fees pursuant to section 353-A and annual waste discharge fees pursuant to section 353-B, a processing fee must be paid at the time of filing the application. Failure to pay the processing fee at the time of filing the application results in the application being returned to the applicant. One-half the processing fee assessed in section 352, subsection 5-A for licenses issued for a 10-year term must be paid at the time of filing the application. The remaining 1/2 of the processing fee for licenses issued for a 10-year term must be paid 5 years after issuance of the license. The commissioner may not refund the processing fee if the application is denied by the board or the commissioner. If the application is withdrawn by the applicant within 30 days of the start of processing, the processing fee must be refunded, except in the case of nonferrous metal mining applications. If an application for nonferrous metal mining is withdrawn by the applicant within 30 days of the date of filing, 1/2 of the application fee must be refunded.

     Sec. B-6. 38 MRSA §353, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1991, c. 384, §7 and affected by §16, is further amended to read:

     5. Renewals or amendments. As set forth in section sections 353-A and 353-B, except for renewals or amendments issued under section sections 413 and 590, the processing fee for renewals or amendments is equal to direct costs up to 1/2 the processing fee for initial applications. The license fee for renewals is identical to the initial license fee. The license fee for amendments may not exceed the initial license fee.

     Sec. B-7. 38 MRSA §353-B is enacted to read:

§353-B. Annual waste discharge license fees

     1. Fees assessed. After the effective date of this section, licensees must pay annual waste discharge license fees consisting of a base or minimum plus amounts from paragraph B, reflecting the quantity of pollutants actually discharged or licensed to be discharged and paragraph C, in consideration of the potential for water quality impact.

A. A base fee is assessed for the categories of waste discharge licenses identified in subsection 2, paragraph A. When a license authorizes discharges in more than one category, only the largest base fee may be applied to the license. When discharge fees described in paragraph B are not applicable or appropriate for a particular license group or discharge activity, only the base fee is assessed.

B. In addition to the base fee amount, fees are assessed in consideration of the quantity and nature of pollutants discharged. When data are available, average daily discharge quantities are used in computing fees for conventional and nonconventional pollutants discharged from publicly owned sanitary and industrial process wastewater sources. When data are not available and for other pollutants and categories, fees are determined using the discharge limits established in a waste discharge license.

C. In addition to the base and discharge fees described in paragraphs A and B, fees may be assessed for the following.

(1) The base fee may be increased by a factor reflecting the initial dilution of an effluent as discharged to the receiving water. This assessment is applied to publicly owned sanitary and industrial process wastewater sources licensed for more than 50,000 gallons per day and having initial dilutions of less than 1,000 to one. The assessment is determined by multiplying the applicable base fee times 1.5 divided by the square root of the chronic dilution factor.

(2) When a license authorizes multiple discharge points from the same location, there is an additional fee of $35 per discharge point.

D. If there are no discharges pursuant to a waste discharge license during an entire year, only the base fee is assessed for that year plus applicable water quality impact and multiple discharge points adjustments from paragraph C may be assessed.

     2. Maximum fee amounts and rates. Waste discharge license fees are as set out in this section.

A. The base and maximum fees that may be assessed to categories of discharge activities are as follows.

Discharge Group		Base fee not to exceed	Maximum fee for individual in group
Publicly owned treatment facilities, greater than 6,000 gallons per day but less than 5 million gallons per day and no significant industrial waste	annual fee	$175	none
Publicly owned treatment facilities, greater than 5 million gallons per day or with significant industrial waste	annual fee	$770	none
Major industrial facility, process wastewater (based on EPA list of major source discharges)	annual fee	$1,850	none
Other industrial facility, process wastewater	annual fee	$630	none
Food handling or packaging waste- water	annual fee	$315	$2,100
Fish rearing facility	annual fee	$230	$1,400
Noncontact cooling water	annual fee	$90	$7,000

Industrial or commercial sources, miscellaneous or incidental non-process wastewater	annual fee	$115	$2,100
Municipal combined sewer overflow	annual fee	$115	$1,400
Sanitary wastewater, commercial sources	annual fee	$60	$1,200
Sanitary wastewater, residential sources 600 gallons per day and less	annual fee	$45	---
Sanitary wastewater, residential sources more than 600 gallons per day	annual fee	$60	$600
Sanitary wastewater, public sources less than 6,000 gallons per day	annual fee	$60	$180
Aquatic pesticide application	annual fee*	$200	---
Snow dumps	annual fee*	$125	---
Salt and sand storage pile	annual fee*	$150	---
Log storage permit	annual fee*	$200	---
General permit coverage for storm water discharges	annual fee*	$100	---
Experimental discharge license	license fee*	$500	---
Mixing zone, in addition to other applicable fees	flat fee*	$4,000	---
Formation of sanitary district	flat fee*	$300	---
Transfer of license for residential or commercial sanitary wastewater	flat fee*	$100	---

*Discharge or license quantity fees do not apply to these categories.

When a license authorizes multiple discharge points in different categories in the same license, the total maximum fee for the license may not exceed the maximum fee for the most significant category plus 1/2 of the maximum fee for each of the other applicable categories.

B. The annual rate per unit for various pollutants and groups of discharges used in computing discharge and license quantity fees may not exceed the limits set out in this paragraph. When a license authorizes the discharge of pollutants fitting more than one category, the appropriate fee is due for each group and type of pollutant.

License group or type of pollutant Rate

Conventional pollutants, license rate $1.25 per pound

Conventional pollutants, discharge $2.40 per pound
rate

Conventional pollutants, primary $0.55 per pound
treatment only

Conventional pollutants, food $0.05 per pound
handling or packing facilities

Nonconventional or toxic pollutants Variable*

Heat (as licensed flow x $0.045 per million BTU
temperature x 8.34)

Flow: fish rearing facilities $45 per million gallons

Flow: combined sewer over- $55 per million gallons
flows (based on treatment
facility design)

Flow: nonprocess from $175 per million gallons
industrial or commercial
sources

Flow: publicly owned $630 per million gallons
treatment facilities

Flow: process from industrial $630 per million gallons
or commercial sources

Flow: treated storm water $17.50 per million gallons

Flow: sanitary from commercial $0.02 per gallon
sources

Flow: sanitary from residential $0.02 per gallon
sources

Flow: sanitary from publicly owned $0.02 per gallon
facilities less than 6,000 gallons
per day

*The license rate per pound is $10.50 divided by the licensed effluent concentration. The dis

charge rate per pound is $21 divided by the licensed effluent concentration.

For the purposes of this section, the term "conventional pollutant" means oxygen-demanding compounds, suspended or dissolved solids, oil and grease. The term "nonconventional pollutants" means other chemical constituents subject to fees. Excluded from fees are the following: pH, residual chlorine, settleable solids, bacteria, whole effluent toxicity tests, color, any compound without numeric license limitations and effluent concentrations reported as being below acceptable detection limits.

Annual discharge or license quantity fees may be calculated using either pounds of pollutants or allowable flow, as is most appropriate for the circumstances of a particular discharge category, situation or location. License limits may be supplemented by applications and related supporting materials when necessary to calculate effluent quantities or concentrations.

     3. Schedule. The fee for existing licenses must be paid on the anniversary date of the license or another date initially established by the department. This date, once established, remains the scheduled date for paying the annual fee, regardless of future changes of the anniversary date. The annual fee for new applications must be estimated and paid at the time of filing the application. When the processing of the application is complete or following the first year of discharge, if applicable, the final annual fee is determined. Any additional amount due or refund of overpayment must be paid within 30 days of determination of the final fee. If the application is denied, 50% of the initial annual fee must be refunded.

     4. Renewals, amendments and modifications. Except for transfers of licenses for discharges of sanitary wastewater from commercial or residential sources as provided for in subsection 2, there are no additional fees assessed for license renewals, amendments or modifications.

     5. Nonpayment of fees. Failure to pay an annual fee within 30 days of the anniversary date of a license is sufficient grounds for revocation of the license, permit or privilege under section 341-D, subsection 3.

     6. Initial year fee rates. Notwithstanding subsection 2, paragraph B, during the first year after the effective date of this section, the following discharge fee rates must be used in computing annual waste discharge license fees. All other provisions of subsection 2 apply.

License group or type of pollutant Rate

Conventional pollutants, license rate $1.00 per pound

Conventional pollutants, discharge $1.90 per pound
rate

Conventional pollutants, primary $0.45 per pound
treatment only

Conventional pollutants, food $0.04 per pound
handling or packing facilities

Nonconventional or toxic pollutants Variable*

Heat (as licensed flow x $0.036 per million
temperature x 8.34) BTU

Flow: fish rearing facilities $36 per million

gallons

Flow: combined sewer overflows $45 per million
(based on treatment facility design) gallons

Flow: nonprocess from industrial $140 per million
or commercial sources gallons

Flow: publicly owned treatment $500 per million
facilities gallons

Flow: process from industrial or $500 per million
commercial sources gallons

Flow: treated storm water $14 per million

      gallons

Flow: sanitary from commercial $0.02 per gallon
sources

Flow: sanitary from residential $0.02 per gallon
sources

Flow: sanitary from publicly owned $0.02 per gallon
facilities less than 6,000 gallons
per day

*The license rate per pound is $8.40 divided by the licensed effluent concentration. The discharge rate per pound is $16.80 divided by the licensed effluent concentration.

     Sec. B-8. Revenue reductions due to pollution prevention. The Legislature recognizes the public benefits of pollution prevention efforts that result in reduced quantities of pollutants discharged into the waters of the State, and a fee system involving amounts of pollutants discharged provides a sound incentive for pollution prevention. The Legislature further recognizes that proper funding for water quality management programs must be maintained without creating economic disincentives or inequities from pollution prevention. Accordingly, future decreases in fee revenues due to pollution prevention should be acknowledged and offset by increased General Fund appropriations.

     Sec. B-9. Explore available funding. The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall explore all available funding opportunities prior to the implementation of the fee schedule established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 353-B, subsection 2, paragraph B.

     Sec. B-10. Report. The Department of Environmental Protection shall monitor the effectiveness of the waste discharge licensing program and report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over natural resource matters by January 1, 2001 concerning significant aspects of the program. The report must address the department's handling of increased responsibilities as a result of being delegated the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, including the following issues: timely permit issuance, effluent toxics, technical assistance, data management, customer service, compliance and enforcement. The report may include recommendations concerning any necessary statutory changes. The department shall consult with representatives of the regulated community and other interested groups when preparing the report.

     Sec. B-11. Allocation. The following funds are allocated from Other Special Revenue to carry out the purposes of this Act.

     1998-99

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF

Maine Environmental Protection Fund

Positions - Legislative Count (8.000)
Personal Services $192,584
All Other 30,000

Provides for the allocation of funds for 2 Clerk Typist III positions, 4 Environmental Specialist II positions, one Environmental Specialist III position and one Assistant Engineer position and operational support funds.

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION ____________
TOTAL $222,584

     Sec. B-12. Allocation. The following funds are allocated from Other Special Revenue to carry out the purposes of this Act.

1998-99

ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF THE

Administration - Attorney General

Positions - Legislative Count (0.500)
Personal Services $21,935
All Other 3,748

Allocates funds for a part-time Assistant Attorney General position to handle the expected increase in workload.

DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ____________
TOTAL $25,683

Effective July 9, 1998, unless otherwise indicated.

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