V-336 



Section 1.204 which provides that all moneys received by the Department shall be paid into 

 the general fund, in essence abolishes several special funds which now exist (e.g., Fish- 

 eries Research and Development Fund, Waterways Improvement Fund). It is felt that since 

 this act represents a broad delegation of authority to the Department, the Department should be 

 required to clear all expenditures through the ordinary budget process. 



Section 1 .302 articulates the relationship between the Department and the Federal Govern- 

 ment or interstate compact commissions. Powers of these paramount bodies take precedence. 



ARTICLE 2 



WATERS OF THE STATE 



This article charges the Department with the obligation to adopt a plan for utilization of 

 State waters and gives the Department the powers necessary to implement the plan. 



Section 2.201 gives the Department authority to promulgate and enforce quality standards for 

 waters of the State. Section 2.202 supplements this basic power by authorizing the Depart- 

 ment to impose other controls such as permits establishing assimilative capacity quotas or 

 effluent charges. 



Section 2.204 is designed to foreclose the possibility of collateral attack on the decisions of 

 the Department such as happened in Stanton v. Trustees, 233 A. 2d 718 (Me. 1967) where a 

 downstream riparian secured an injunction against an upstream discharger, even though the 

 discharger had secured a permit from the State water quality commission. 



Section 2.302 carries over the appropriations permit system for the use of water which has 

 existed in Maryland since 1934. The cross reference to Section 3,203 adds a new wrinkle, by 

 making clear that the State, through the Director, can require payment for the use of tidal 

 waters. This affords a useful managerial tool in limiting the placement of thermal loads on 

 the Bay. Certainly the use of Bay waters as a coolant becomes less attractive to a commer- 

 cial user if he may be charged the fair market value of such use (one measure of which would 

 .be the cost of an alternative cooling system). 



Section 2.302(c) functions as a "grandfather's clause." Under Maryland law there is some 

 possibility that pre-1934 users of fresh water and pre-1 966 users of tidal waters have some 

 vested rights in such waters. See Md. Ann. Code, Art, 96A, Sees. 2, 1 1 as amended 1968, 

 These rights have never been legally tested. This subsection recognizes that such rights 

 may exist but places the burden of going forward on the person asserting them. 



Sections 2.401 through 2 403 give the Department broad discretion to regulate the operation 

 of boats. The Department of Chesapeake Bay Affairs presently has similar (although more 

 circumscribed) powers under Section 1-11 of Article 14B of the Maryland Code. Section 2 404, 

 however, transfers powers relating to the licensing of boats, presently exercised by Chesa- 

 peake Bay Affairs, to the Department of Motor Vehicles, 



