An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Invasive Aquatic Species
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0743
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: FAY
Amends: 38 MRSA §410-N, 38 MRSA §1865

Legislative Document
No. 743
H.P. 548
House of Representatives, March 5, 2021
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Invasive Aquatic Species
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 FAY of Raymond.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §410-N, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2005, c. 561, §1, is 
further amended to read:
B.  "Invasive aquatic plant" means a species identified by the department as an invasive 
aquatic plant or one of the following species:
(1)  All Myriophyllum species, including but not limited to variable-leaf water-
milfoil, Myriophyllum heterophyllum; Eurasian water milfoil water-milfoil, 
Myriophyllum spicatum; and parrot feather, Myriophyllum aquaticum;
(2)  Variable-leaf water milfoil, Myriophyllum heterophyllum;
(3)  Parrot feather, Myriophyllum aquaticum;
(4)  Water All Trapa species, including but not limited to water chestnut, Trapa 
natans;
(5)  Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata;
(6)  Fanwort All Cabomba species, including but not limited to fanwort, Cabomba 
caroliniana;
(7)  Curly pondweed, Potamogeton crispus;
(8)  European naiad, Najas minor;
(9)  Brazilian elodea, Egeria densa;
(10)  Frogbit, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae; and
(11)  Yellow floating heart, Nymphoides peltata.;
(12)  Water soldier, Stratiotes aloides;
(13)  Giant salvinia, Salvinia molesta;
(14)  Swollen bladderwort, Utricularia inflata; and
(15)  Starry stonewort, Nitellopsis obtusa.
Sec. 2.  38 MRSA §1865, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 551, §21, is amended to read:
§1865.  Public water supplies
If an infested water body pursuant to section 1864 is a public drinking water supply, 
public notification by the commissioner and the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and 
Wildlife is required prior to any response action that proposes the use of a chemical control 
agent.  Public notification must include, at a minimum, notification of adjoining 
municipalities, property owners, drinking water suppliers who use that water supply and 
other affected persons, and must provide adequate time for public review and comment on 
the proposed emergency action.  Chemical control agents may not be used on a water body 
that is a public drinking water supply for a regulated community public water system or a 
regulated nontransient, noncommunity public water system without the prior written 
consent of each public water supplier from the public water system using that water body.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the laws governing aquatic nuisance species control in the following 
ways.
1.  It adds new species to the existing list of invasive aquatic plants.
2.  It changes the consent requirement in order for chemical control agents to be used 
on a water body that is a water supply from prior written consent of each public water 
supplier using that water body to prior written consent of a regulated community public 
water system or a regulated nontransient, noncommunity public water system using that 
water body.