ROBERT L. EHRLICH, JR., Governor                             Ch. 181

(b)     (1) The Comptroller shall collect the revenue from the surcharge
imposed under subsection (a) of this section and place the revenue into a special fund,
the Environmental Trust Fund.

(2) The Comptroller shall maintain the method of collection of the
surcharge from each electric company, and the money collected shall accrue to the
Fund.

(c)     (1) Each fiscal year, the Secretary of Natural Resources shall coordinate
the preparation of the annual budget required to carry out the provisions of the Power
Plant Research Program under Title 3, Subtitle 3 of the Natural Resources Article.

(2) Each fiscal year, on approval of the annual budget by the General
Assembly for the Power Plant Research Program, the Commission shall establish the
amount of the environmental surcharge per kilowatt hour of electric energy
distributed in the State that is to be imposed on each electric company in accordance
with subsection (a) of this section.

(d)     (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subtitle, the amount of
the surcharge for each account of each retail electric customer may not exceed the
lesser of 0.15 mill per kilowatt hour or $1,000 per month.

(2) The Department of Natural Resources shall credit against the
amount the Commission requires each electric company to pay into the
Environmental Trust Fund 0.75% of the total surcharge amount attributed to the
electric company on the basis of the amount of the electricity distributed in the State.

(e)     To the extent that the Commission requires an electric company to report
the total estimated kilowatt hours of electricity distributed in the State in order to
calculate the surcharge under subsection (a)(1) of this section, a small rural electric
cooperative described in § 7-502(a) of this title may satisfy the requirement by
submitting to the Commission an estimate made in accordance with a formula
approved by the Commission from information that the small rural electric
cooperative submits to the rural utilities service that includes the required
information.

(f)      The surcharge imposed under this subtitle shall terminate on June 30,
[2005] 2010.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take
effect October 1, 2004.

Approved April 27, 2004.

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