§ 14-501

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

(b) “Coastal area” means all that land and water area lying within Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Harford, Kent, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties, the Chesapeake Bay, and lying seaward to the State’s territorial jurisdiction.

(c) “Construction” means any clearing, grading, excavation, building or other action that would affect the natural environment of the coastal area, or the commencement of any of these activities. This does not include any activity for the sole purpose of securing biological or geological data or other data for an economic or environmental analysis.

(d) “Department” means the Department of the Environment.

(e) “Facility” means:

(1) Any pipeline carrying crude oil or natural gas ashore from offshore sources;

(2) Any intermediate production terminal or refinery which is designed to process at least ten thousand barrels of crude oil per calendar day;

(3) Any crude oil storage facility:

(i) Whose total design capacity is at least 100,000 barrels;

(ii) Which occupies at least fifty acres; or

(iii) Whose average throughput is at least ten thousand barrels per calendar day;

(4) Any facility for the processing, transmission, or storage of natural gas with a total design capacity for at least one billion cubic feet of gas for storage or two hundred million cubic feet for processing;

(5) Any operations base which:

(i) Includes port and harbor facilities;

(ii) Occupies at least twenty–five acres; and

(iii) Is designed, constructed and operated as an assembly area for the storage, handling, and transport of supplies whose next and final destination is any oil and/or gas exploration, development, or production–related operation conducted in the territorial sea, contiguous zone or high seas area; or

(6) Any fabrication yard which is an assembly operation used for the construction or preparation of petroleum drilling rigs, jackets or platforms, or wellhead installations, whose final destination is installation or operation in the territorial sea, contiguous zone, or high seas area.

(f) “Government agencies” means the government of the United States, the State of Maryland, or any other state, their political subdivisions, units, or instrumentalities thereof, and interstate units.

(g) “Person” includes corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals and government agencies.

(h) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Environment.