An Act to Update Waste Discharge License Fees
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0465
Sponsors: GROHOSKI
Amends: 38 MRSA §353-B

Legislative Document
No. 465
S.P. 200
In Senate, February 11, 2025
An Act to Update Waste Discharge License Fees
Submitted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to Joint Rule 204.
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on February 5, 2025.  Referred to the Committee 
on Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator GROHOSKI of Hancock.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §353-B, sub-§2, ¶A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 631, §1, is 
further amended to read:
A.  The fees for waste discharge license groups are the 2019 bill amounts increased by 
a factor of 1.4, unless otherwise indicated, 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
2019 bill 
amount
  $543
Publicly owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 10,000 
gallons per day 
to 0.1 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $689
Publicly owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 0.1 million 
gallons per day 
to 1.0 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2019 bill  
amount
  $1,063
Publicly owned 
treatment 
facilities, more 
than 1.0 million 
gallons per day 
to 5.0 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2019 bill  
amount
  $2,241
Publicly owned 
treatment 
facilities, greater 
than 5 million 
gallons per day 
or with 
significant 
industrial waste
annual fee
2019 bill  
amount
  $7,850
Major industrial 
facility, process 
wastewater 
(based on EPA 
list of major 
source 
discharges)
annual fee
2019 bill  
amount
  $33,919
Other industrial 
facility, process 
wastewater
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $2,093
Food handling or 
packaging 
wastewater
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $1,135
Fish-rearing 
Terrestrial fish-
rearing facility 
0.1 million 
gallons per day 
or less
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $538
Fish-rearing 
Terrestrial fish-
rearing facility 
over 0.1 million 
gallons per day
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $1,368
Marine 
aquaculture 
facility
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $529
Marine finfish 
aquaculture 
facility
annual fee
$1,682
$1,682
Noncontact 
cooling water
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $330
Industrial or 
commercial 
sources, 
miscellaneous or 
incidental 
nonprocess 
wastewater
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $626
Municipal 
combined sewer 
overflow
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $711
Sanitary 
wastewater, 
excluding 
overboard 
discharge
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $1,268
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
commercial 
sources
annual fee
2011 bill 
amount
 $446
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
residential 
sources 600 
gallons per day 
or less
annual fee
2011 bill 
amount
 $231
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, 
residential 
sources more 
than 600 gallons 
per day
annual fee
2011 bill 
amount
 $313
 $75
Sanitary 
overboard 
discharge, public 
sources
annual fee
2011 bill 
amount
 $315
 $75
Aquatic 
pesticide 
application
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $1,110
Snow dumps
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $550
Salt and sand 
storage pile
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $738
Log storage 
permit
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $727
General permit 
coverage for 
industrial storm 
water discharges 
(except 
construction)
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $588
General permit 
coverage for 
marine 
aquaculture 
facility
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount 
$1,682
  $230 $1,682
General permit 
coverage for 
municipal 
separate storm 
sewer system
annual fee
$1,306
$1,306
General permit 
coverage (other)
annual fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $283
Experimental 
discharge license
license fee
2019 bill 
amount
  $1,550
New or amended 
mixing zone, in 
addition to other 
applicable fees
flat fee
$9,254
 ---
Formation of 
sanitary district
flat fee
 $693
 ---
Transfer of 
license for 
residential or 
commercial 
sanitary 
wastewater
flat fee
 $140
 ---
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 adds marine finfish aquaculture facilities and general permit coverage for 
municipal separate storm sewer systems as waste discharge license groups and establishes 
the basis for the annual fees for those license groups.  It changes the basis for the annual 
fee for the general permit coverage for the marine aquaculture facilities waste discharge 
license group and increases the median fee for that license group.  It also clarifies that the 
fish-rearing facility waste discharge license group covers terrestrial fish-rearing facilities.