An Act Regarding the Regulation of Agricultural Composting Operations
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0351
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: NUTTING, GIFFORD, SHERMAN, SMITH
Amends: 38 MRSA §1303-C, 38 MRSA §1304

FIRST REGULAR SESSluN-2009 
Legislative Document 
No. 351 
S.P. 115 
In Senate, February 3, 2009 
An Act Regarding the Regulation of Agricultural Composting 
Operations 
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator NUTTING of Androscoggin. 
Cosponsored by Representative GIFFORD of Lincoln and 
9tf)(J~ 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senator: SHERMAN of Aroostook, Representatives: CRA Y of Palmyra, SMITH of 
Monmouth. 
Printed on '. ;:ycled p<lp r 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 7 MRSA c. 749 is enacted to read: 
CHAPTER. 749 
AGRICULTURAL COMPOSTING 
§4301. Definitions 
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms 
have the following meanings. 
1. Agricultural compo sting operation. "Agricultural compo sting operation" means 
compo sting that takes place on a farm and uses only animal manure, animal carcasses and 
offal, fish waste, leaves, wood chips, animal bedding and other vegetative waste, produce 
II 
and other vegetable and food waste. 
2. Best management practices. "Best management practices" means those practices 
that are determined by the commissioner to be based on reasonably available and 
economically feasible methods and technologies that are environmentally sound. "Best 
management practices" includes those practices suited to preventing, reducing or 
correcting problems that may be associated with an agricultural composting operation. 
3. 
Commercial agricultural compo sting operation. 
"Commercial agricultural 
compo sting operation" means an agricultural compo sting operation that produces 
compost sold, bartered or otherwise exchanged for compensation and generates a cash or 
in-kind equivalent annual income of $2,000 or more. 
4. 
Composting. 
"Compo sting" means the controlled aerobic decomposition of 
organic materials to produce a soil-like product beneficial to plant growth and suitable for 
agronomic use. 
5. Farm. "Farm" means land on which the commercial production of crops and 
animals useful to humans occurs, including, but not limited to, the production of seed, 
forages, sod, grains, feed, berries, flowers, vegetables, milk and milk products, poultry 
and poultry products, livestock and livestock products and other plants grown or animals 
raised for food, feed or fiber. For a farm to qualify as a farm under this chapter, the 
person owning or operating the farm must file a federal Internal Revenue Service Tax 
Form 1040 under the appropriate schedule for the reporting of profit or loss from a farm. 
§4302. R.egistration 
A person who owns or operates a commercial agricultural compo sting operation shall 
register with the department no later than September 1 st of each· year on a form 
prescribed by the department. A registration fee established in accordance with section 
:1-303 must be submitted with the form. The commissioner shall deposit registration fees 
into the Nutrient Management Fund established in section 4208. 
) 
) 
) 
() 
§4303. Duties of the commissioner 
The commissioner shall implement a program to educate persons who own or operate 
commercial agricultural composting operations on agricultural compo sting methods and 
to ensure adherence to best management practices by commercial agricultural composting 
operations. The commissioner shall advise persons who own or operate commercial 
agricultural composting operations of technical assistance, funding and other resources 
available to them through the United States Department of Agriculture and the soil and 
water conservation districts organized under Title 12, chapter 1. 
1. 
Rulemaking. 
The commissioner shall adopt rules to establish basic best 
management practices for commercial agricultural composting operations, a process for 
developing specific best management practices for an individual agricultural composting 
operation and timelines for implementation of best management practices prescribed by 
the commissioner. The commissioner shall also establish registration fees by rule. Fees 
must be appropriate to the size of the operation. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this 
subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
2. Inspection; assistance. The commissioner or the commissioner's designee may 
enter the premises of a commercial agricultural compo sting operation for the purpose of 
inspecting the operation for compliance with best management practices. When the 
commissioner determines that best management practices are not in use or that basic best 
management practices are insufficient to prevent environmental harm or an adverse 
impact on neighboring residents or landowners, the commissioner shall assist the owner 
or operator of the commercial agricultural composting operation in developing best 
management practices specific to that operation. 
3. Civil violation. Failure to implement best management practices in accordance 
with rules adopted under subsection 1 is a civil violation for which a fine of up to $1,000, 
together with an additional [me of up to $250 per day for every day the violation 
continues, may be adjudged. 
4. Other actions. If the person who owns or operates a commercial agricultural 
composting operation does not adopt best management practices in accordance with this 
section, the commissioner shall send a written report to the Attorney General and to the 
3l 
Commissioner of Environmental Protection advising them of the situation. The Attorney 
General may institute an action to enforce the provisions of this section or any other 
applicable state law. If a violation of Title 38 may have occurred, the Commissioner of 
Environmental Protection shall respond as appropriate. 
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§l-D is enacted to read: 
1-D. Agricultural composting operation. "Agricultural composting operation" has 
the meaning set out in Title 7, section 4301, subsection 1. 
Sec. 3. 38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§40, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 585, Pt. E, §4 
and amended by c. 869, Pt. A, §5 and affected by §21,is further amended to read: 
~,,~ 
40. 
Waste facility. 
"Waste facility" means any land area, structure, location, 
equipment or combination of them, including dumps, used for handling hazardous, 
biomedical or solid waste, waste oil, sludge or septage. An agricultural composting 
operation is not a waste facility. Aland area or structure does not become a waste facility 
solely because: 
A. . It is used by its owner for disposing of septage from the owner's residence; 
R It is used to store for 90 days or less hazardous wastes generated on the same 
premises; 
C. 
It is used by individual homeowners or lessees to open bum leaves, brush, 
deadwood and tree cuttings accrued from normal maintenance of their residential 
property, when such burning is permitted under Title 12, section 599. subsection 3 
9325; or 
D. It is used by its residential owner to burn highly combustible domestic, household 
trash such as paper, cardboard cartons or wood boxes, when such burning is 
permitted under Title 12, section 599, subsection 3 9325. 
Sec. 4. 38 MRSA §1304, sub-§20 is enacted to read: 
20. 
Commercial agricultural compostil!l2 operations. 
The provisions of this 
chapter do not apply to agricultural compo sting operations regulated by the Department 
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources under Title 7, chapter 749. The board may not 
adopt rules regulating agricultural compo sting operations as waste facilities. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires commercial agricultural compo sting operations to register with the 
Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources and directs the Commissioner of 
Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources to adopt rules concerning best management 
practices for commercial agricultural compo sting operations. It authorizes the 
commissioner or the commissioner's designee to enter the premises of a commercial 
agricultural composting operation to inspect for compliance with best management 
practices. 
It removes commercial agricultural compo sting operations from regulation by the 
Department of Environmental Protection as waste facilities but does not exempt 
commercial agricultural composting operations from state or federal environmental laws. 
) 
) 
)