Maryland Environment Section 5-1101

      (a)      In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

            (1)      "Dredged material" means earth, sand, silt, sediment, shell, rock, soil, waste matter, or other material excavated or dredged from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary waters.

            (2)      "Baltimore County tributary dredged material" means earth, rock, soil, waste matter, muck, or other materials excavated or dredged from an approved dredging project in any of the Baltimore County tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

            (3)      "Redeposit" means to dump, scatter, pour, or otherwise deposit dredged material.

            (4)      "Baltimore Harbor" means the waterway which consists of the tidal portions of Patapsco River and its tributaries lying westward of a line extending from Rock Point in Anne Arundel County to North Point in Baltimore County.

            (5)      (i)      "Sewage sludge" means the accumulated semiliquid suspension of settled solids, or dried residue of these solids, that is deposited from sewage in wastewater treatment plant tanks or basins.

                  (ii)      "Sewage sludge" includes raw untreated sewage disposed from the Back River Sewage Treatment Plant.

            (6)      "Deep trough" means any region that:

                  (i)      Is south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and north of a line extending westerly from Bloody Point; and

                  (ii)      Has a depth that exceeds 60 feet.

            (7)      "Beneficial use of dredged material" means any of the following uses of dredged material from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary waters placed into waters or onto bottomland of the Chesapeake Bay or its tidal tributaries, including Baltimore Harbor:

                  (i)      The restoration of underwater grasses;

                  (ii)      The restoration of islands;

                  (iii)      The stabilization of eroding shorelines;

                  (iv)      The creation or restoration of wetlands; and

                  (v)      The creation, restoration, or enhancement of fish or shellfish habitats.

            (8)      "Innovative reuse" includes the use of dredged material in the development or manufacturing of commercial, industrial, horticultural, agricultural, or other products.

      (b)      The General Assembly declares that the Chesapeake Bay and the tidewater portions of its tributaries are a great natural asset and resource to the State and its counties. Portions of these areas are threatened with inundation by the unconfined dumping of vast quantities of spoil from dredging operations within Baltimore Harbor and certain dumpings of sewage sludge. This inundation and unconfined dumping will pollute and despoil valuable portions of the bottomland in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidewater tributaries and be grossly harmful to fish and marine life in these and adjacent waters, to use for recreation, and to the economic and social life of the people of this State.