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Legislators weigh mooring and seasonal-platform fees to replenish cyanobacteria fund
Summary
Lawmakers heard two related bills proposing higher mooring and registration fees for floating platforms to fund the cyanobacteria mitigation loan and grant fund and navigation safety needs. Marine Patrol and DES provided technical details about permit counts, definitions and sources of cyanobacteria; the committee later recommended ITL on the bills.
Two bills before the Ways and Means Committee would raise fees on moorings and seasonal floating platforms to channel revenue into a cyanobacteria mitigation fund and navigation safety programs.
At the HB 1301 hearing a sponsor compared inland mooring fees to coastal mooring fees and said the measure would raise money for a cyanobacteria mitigation loan and grant fund that has already helped lake associations address toxic blooms. Tim Dunlevy of the Department of Safety Marine Patrol provided background on mooring regulation: "Marine Patrol permits approximately 5,000, give or take, per year," he said, estimating about 1,700 congregate/public moorings and explaining that congregate fields require a public hearing and approval by the governor and council.
John T. Macdonald, the sponsor of HB 1477, proposed a $50 registration fee for floats, rafts and inflatables that are anchored or otherwise occupy public waters and said half of that revenue would go to the cyanobacteria mitigation fund and half to the navigation safety fund. Macdonald told the committee the cyanobacteria fund was seeded with about $1 million when created and was "dropped to approximately $200,000" with no additional state money earmarked in the current budget.
DES witnesses and lake association advocates told the committee that cyanobacteria blooms stem largely from non-point source pollution — runoff from failing septic systems, fertilizer, and legacy nutrients in sediments — and that fees are one of several funding mechanisms needed. "Non-point source pollution is one of the major contributors to the nutrient loads into our lakes and ponds," David Neils, DES watershed-management administrator, said, noting DES's 2023 cyanobacteria plan.
Committee members pressed practical questions about definitions and logistics: what counts as "adjacent" to private shorefront property, whether platforms attached to docks require registration, and how permit fees and application processes would work. Marine Patrol said a seasonal platform must have its own anchoring system to qualify for the proposed registration; platforms attached to a dock would not meet that definition.
The existing mooring-permit process was described in detail: an initial mooring permit historically carried a $125 first-season application fee and then a $25 annual renewal for most private mooring balls; seasonal platform permitting would follow a separate inspection and permitting path under the proposed bills.
After discussion, in executive session the committee recommended Inexpedient to Legislate (ITL) on these proposals; HB 1301 was placed on consent with ITL and HB 1477 was recommended ITL and removed from consent by a member’s request.
