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<section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="1-306" title_number="1" title_name="Definitions; General Provisions; Enforcement" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Enforcement">
  <level label="a">
    <text>In this section, “supplemental environmental project” means an environmentally beneficial project or activity that is not required by law but that an alleged violator agrees to undertake as part of a settlement or enforcement action.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Subject to paragraph (2) of this subsection, the Department shall create and maintain a database of supplemental environmental projects that the Department may consider for implementation as part of a settlement of an enforcement action.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>In creating and maintaining the database, the Department shall solicit input from communities in the State that are overburdened, underserved, or otherwise disadvantaged by environmental stressors.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The Department shall include oyster repletion projects in the database.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The Department may, with reasonable justification, consider a supplemental environmental project that is not included in the database required in subsection (b) of this section as part of a settlement of an enforcement action.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The Department may not choose a supplemental environmental project offered by the violator unless the Department:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>Approves the project; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Maintains documentation of the approval.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>Before a violator undertakes a supplemental environmental project, the Department shall:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Give priority consideration to the selection of a project located in the same geographic area impacted by the alleged violation; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Ensure that the scope and cost of the chosen project is reasonably related to the nexus of the violation or the adverse impact of the violation and that the cost is sufficient to allow the Department and the alleged violator to reach a settlement.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
