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PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor
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S.B. 247
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Annotated Code of Maryland
(1996 Replacement Volume and 2001 Supplement)
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:
Article - Natural Resources
8-1801.
(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The Chesapeake [Bay and its] AND THE ATLANTIC COASTAL BAYS
AND THEIR tributaries are natural resources of great significance to the State and the
nation;
(2) The shoreline and adjacent lands constitute a valuable, fragile, and
sensitive part of this estuarine system, where human activity can have a particularly
immediate and adverse impact on water quality and natural habitats;
(3) The capacity of these shoreline and adjacent lands to withstand
continuing demands without further degradation to water quality and natural
habitats is limited;
(4) National studies have documented that the quality and productivity
of the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have declined due to the
cumulative effects of human activity that have caused increased levels of pollutants,
nutrients, and toxics in the Bay System and declines in more protective land uses
such as forestland and agricultural land in the Bay region;
(5) Those portions of the Chesapeake [Bay and its] AND THE ATLANTIC
COASTAL BAYS AND THEIR tributaries within Maryland are particularly stressed by
the continuing population growth and development' activity concentrated in the
Baltimore-Washington metropolitan corridor AND ALONG THE ATLANTIC COAST;
(6) The quality of life for the citizens of Maryland is enhanced through
the restoration of the quality and productivity of the waters of the Chesapeake [Bay
and its] AND THE ATLANTIC COASTAL BAYS, AND THEIR tributaries;
(7) The restoration of the Chesapeake [Bay and its] AND THE ATLANTIC
COASTAL BAYS AND THEIR tributaries is dependent, in part, on minimizing further
adverse impacts to the water quality and natural habitats of the shoreline and
adjacent lands;
(8) The cumulative impact of current development is inimical to these
purposes; and
(9) There is a critical and substantial State interest for the benefit of
current and future generations in fostering more sensitive development activity in a
consistent and uniform manner along shoreline areas of the Chesapeake [Bay and
its] AND THE ATLANTIC COASTAL BAYS AND THEIR tributaries so as to minimize
damage to water quality and natural habitats.
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- 4457 -
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