Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 543 – Pollution and corruption of waters and lands of the State prohibited
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Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 543
- Coastal waters: means all waters of the State within the rise and fall of the tide and to a distance of 12 miles from the coastline of the State but does not include areas above any fishway or dam when the fishway or dam is the dividing line between tidewater and fresh water. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 542
- Discharge: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, escaping, emptying or dumping. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 542
- lands: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
- Oil: means oil, oil additives, petroleum products and their by-products of any kind and in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with other wastes, liquid asphalt, bunker fuel, crude oils and all other liquid hydrocarbons regardless of specific gravity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 542
- Person: shall mean any natural person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, trust, the State of Maine and any agency thereof, governmental entity, quasi-governmental entity, the United States of America and any agency thereof and any other legal entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 542
- River: means a free-flowing body of water including its associated flood plain wetlands from that point at which it provides drainage for a watershed of 25 square miles to its mouth. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 436-A
- Stream: means a free-flowing body of water from the outlet of a great pond or the confluence of 2 perennial streams as depicted on the most recent, highest resolution version of the national hydrography dataset available from the United States Geological Survey on the website of the United States Geological Survey or the national map to the point where the stream becomes a river or where the stream meets the shoreland zone of another water body or wetland. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 38 Sec. 436-A
The discharge of oil into or upon any coastal waters, estuaries, tidal flats, beaches and lands adjoining the seacoast of the State, or into or upon any lake, pond, river, stream, sewer, surface water drainage, ground water or other waters of the State or any public or private water supply or onto lands adjacent to, on, or over such waters of the State is prohibited. [PL 1985, c. 496, Pt. A, §8 (AMD).]
Notwithstanding the prohibition of this section, the department may license the discharge of waste, refuse or effluent, including natural drainage contaminated by oil into or upon any coastal waters if, and only if, it finds that the discharge will be receiving the best available treatment and that the discharge will not degrade existing water quality, perceptibly violate the classification of the receiving waters or create any visible sheen upon the receiving waters. A license is not required and a person may not be considered in violation of this section for the discharge of oil to surface waters of the State if the discharge occurs in the process of recovering, containing, cleaning up or removing an oil spill to surface waters and is undertaken in compliance with the instructions of the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee. [PL 1993, c. 333, §2 (AMD).]
In acting upon an application for any such license, the department shall follow the provisions of subchapter I insofar as they are applicable. [PL 1989, c. 890, Pt. A, §40 (AFF); PL 1989, c. 890, Pt. B, §108 (AMD).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1969, c. 572, §1 (NEW). PL 1973, c. 423, §11 (AMD). PL 1977, c. 375, §5 (AMD). PL 1983, c. 785, §11 (AMD). PL 1985, c. 496, §A8 (AMD). PL 1989, c. 890, §§A40,B108 (AMD). PL 1993, c. 333, §2 (AMD).