Bill > LD465

This bill updates the waste discharge license fees for various types of facilities and discharges in Maine, primarily by increasing most 2019 baseline fees by a factor of 1.4. The bill modifies fees for a wide range of entities including publicly owned treatment facilities (with different rates based on daily gallons discharged), major and other industrial facilities, food handling facilities, fish-rearing facilities, marine aquaculture facilities, cooling water sources, municipal combined sewer overflows, sanitary wastewater discharges, and various permit types. Some notable specific changes include increasing the general permit coverage fee for marine aquaculture facilities from $230 to $1,682 and adding a new general permit fee for municipal separate storm sewer systems at $1,306. The bill also maintains existing surcharge provisions for municipalities and publicly owned treatment works whose discharges potentially impact shellfish harvesting areas, with a total annual surcharge of $12,000 allocated based on average annual flows. Additionally, the bill includes an appropriation of special revenue funds for the Department of Environmental Protection to support water quality control operations, with allocations of $55,791 in 2025-26 and $57,409 in 2026-27.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=465&snum=132