WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                    Ch. 306

(c)  "Acid deposition precursor" means an air contaminant
that may be transformed to an acid gas or particle in the
atmosphere.

(d)  "Commission" means the Maryland Public Service
Commission.

(e)  "Departments" means the Department of Natural Resources
and the Department of [Health and Mental Hygiene] THE
ENVIRONMENT.

(f)  "Participating agencies" means the Commission, the
People's Counsel of the Public Service Commission, and the
Departments of Economic and Community Development, Agriculture,
Transportation, and State Planning.

3-3A-03.

(b) The comprehensive research and monitoring program
shall:

(1)  Determine the relative contributions, if any, to
acid deposition in the State of various sources of acid
deposition precursor emissions;

(2)  Determine if acid deposition varies significantly
from 1 geographic region of the State to another and identify the
relative contribution of various sources of precursor emissions
responsible for this variability;

(3)  Expand and improve impact data bases through the
compilation of existing data on precipitation and surface water
chemistry, improved quality control, and standardization of
sampling and analytical techniques;

(4)  Identify regions, localized, areas, or specific
ecosystems of the State especially sensitive to acid deposition;

(5)  Assess the consequence of the environmental
impacts of acid deposition on resources such as surface water,
groundwater, crops, forests, fisheries, and structures;

(6)  Identify and evaluate the technological
effectiveness, if any, and economic cost of technologies and
noncontrol mitigative techniques that are feasible for use in the
State to control acid deposition precursor emissions or to
mitigate the impact of acid deposition;

(7)  Identify and monitor activities of the federal
government and private industry towards development of innovative
technologies for cleaner coal combustion that are feasible for
possible use in the State to reduce acid deposition precursor
emissions from facilities in the State;

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