An Act To Ensure Adequate Funding for the Maine Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and Waste Discharge Licensing Program
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1832
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: TUCKER
Amends: 38 MRSA §353-B

Legislative Document
No. 1832
H.P. 1303
House of Representatives, June 4, 2019
An Act To Ensure Adequate Funding for the Maine Pollutant 
Discharge Elimination System and Waste Discharge Licensing 
Program
Submitted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to Joint Rule 204.
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative TUCKER of Brunswick.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §353-B, sub-§2, ¶A, as corrected by RR 2011, c. 2, §43, is 
amended to read:
A.  The fees for waste discharge license groups are the 2018 bill amounts increased 
by a factor of 1.4 as follows.
Discharge 
group
Basis for 
annual fee
Median fee for 
discharge group
Water quality 
improvement 
surcharge
Publicly 
owned 
treatment 
facilities, 
10,000 gallons 
per day or less
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$306  $529
Publicly 
owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 10,000 
gallons per day 
to 0.1 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$400  $672
Publicly 
owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 0.1 
million gallons 
per day to 1.0 
million gallons 
per day
annual fee
Average of 
2009, 2010 
and 2011 
 2018 bill 
amounts 
 amount
$617  $1,036
Publicly 
owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 1.0 
million gallons 
per day to 5.0 
million gallons 
per day
annual fee
Average of 
2009, 2010 
and 2011 
 2018 bill 
amounts 
 amount
$1,300  $2,184
Publicly 
owned 
treatment 
facilities, 
greater than 5 
million gallons 
per day or with 
significant 
industrial 
waste
annual fee
Average of 
2009, 2010 
and 2011 
 2018 bill 
amounts 
 amount
$4,553  $7,648
Major 
industrial 
facility, 
process 
wastewater 
(based on EPA 
list of major 
source 
discharges)
annual fee
Average of 
2009, 2010 
and 2011 
 2018 bill 
amounts 
 amount
$19,672  $33,042
Other 
industrial 
facility, 
process 
wastewater
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$1,214  $2,040
Food handling 
or packaging 
wastewater
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$659  $1,106
Fish-rearing 
facility 0.1 
million gallons 
per day or less
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$312  $524
Fish-rearing 
facility over 
0.1 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$794  $1,333
Marine 
aquaculture 
facility
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$308  $515
Noncontact 
cooling water
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$192  $322
Industrial or 
commercial 
sources, 
miscellaneous 
or incidental 
nonprocess 
wastewater
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$363  $609
Municipal 
combined 
sewer 
overflow
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$413  $693
Sanitary 
wastewater, 
excluding 
overboard 
discharge
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$736  $1,731
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
commercial 
sources
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
 $446
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
residential 
sources 600 
gallons per day 
or less
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
 $231
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
residential 
sources more 
than 600 
gallons per day
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
 $313
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
public sources
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
 $315
 $75
Aquatic 
pesticide 
application
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$644  $1,082
Snow dumps
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$319  $536
Salt and sand 
storage pile
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$429  $719
Log storage 
permit
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$422  $708
General permit 
coverage for 
industrial 
storm water 
discharges 
(except 
construction)
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$300  $573
General permit 
coverage for 
marine 
aquaculture 
facility
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$134  $224
On an annual basis, municipalities and publicly owned treatment works whose 
combined sewer overflows have the potential to affect shellfish harvesting areas as 
determined by the department by virtue of their locations within estuarine or marine 
waters of the State must be assessed a surcharge on their wastewater discharge 
licenses in a total amount of $12,000. This amount must be allocated among the 
municipalities and publicly owned treatment works according to their prior 3-year 
average annual flows as reported to the department.
On an annual basis, publicly owned treatment works whose outfalls licensed for the 
discharge of treated effluent cause adjacent shellfish growing areas to be closed for 
the purposes of harvesting shellfish must be assessed a license surcharge in a total 
amount of $25,000. This amount must be allocated among the publicly owned 
treatment works according to the acreage that each licensed outfall closes. This 
acreage must be determined by the Department of Marine Resources in consultation 
with the department.
SUMMARY
This bill increases the annual waste discharge license fee for certain categories of 
existing discharges by 40% from the 2018 bill amount, and the annual discharge license 
General permit 
coverage 
(other)
annual fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$164  $274
Experimental 
discharge 
license
license fee
2011 
 2018 bill 
amount
$899  $1,509
 New or 
amended 
mixing zone, 
in addition to 
other 
applicable fees
flat fee
$5,368 
 $8,966
 ---
Formation of 
sanitary 
district
flat fee
$402  $675
 ---
Transfer of 
license for 
residential or 
commercial 
sanitary 
wastewater
flat fee
$100  $140
 ---
fee for certain categories of new discharges by 40% from the amount indicated in the 
Department of Environmental Protection fee schedule effective November 1, 2018 to 
October 31, 2019.