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2007 Vetoed Bills and Messages
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H.B. 564
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This bill requires the State Fire Prevention Commission to establish a pilot program
allowing the continuous operation of an unattended marine vessel motor fuel retail
service station at marinas in Dorchester and Talbot counties. The pilot must be
developed in conjunction with the Clean Marina Initiative of the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR). The Commission may adopt any regulations necessary to
implement the pilot program. The regulations must be consistent with any provisions
or regulations governing the continuous operation of an unattended motor vehicle
retail service station.
We recognize that the law currently allows for unattended land-based retail service
stations for motor vehicles. However, fuel spills directly into the water are more
difficult to access, contain, mitigate and recover from than fuel spills on land. A fuel
spill directly into the open water at any marina must be immediately reported to the
Department of Environment and the United States Coast Guard. The Department of
Environment's Emergency Response Division and Oil Control Division responds to
numerous spills at unattended land-based service stations each year. Permitting
unattended marina fuel dispensing systems to operate increases the opportunity for a
spill to go unnoticed or unreported, or for a fuel spill report to be delayed until the
Chesapeake Bay, one of its prime recreational and sport boating and fishing areas, or
one of its many commercial fisheries is significantly damaged. Although I believe
there certainly are safety measures that could be put into place to minimize the
likelihood of a spill, it is this last factor—the grave consequences that could result to
the Bay or its fisheries from a delayed response to a spill—that compels me to veto this
bill.
The bill also technically is deficient in that it does not specify an end date for the pilot
program.
For the above reasons, I have vetoed House Bill 564.
Sincerely,
Martin O'Malley
Governor
House Bill 564
AN ACT concerning
Dorchester and Talbot Counties - Unattended Marine Vessel Motor Fuel
Retail Service Stations at Marinas - Pilot Program
FOR the purpose of requiring the State Fire Prevention Commission to establish a
pilot program to allow the continuous operation of unattended marine vessel
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- 4712 -
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