PRINTER'S NO. 4043
No. 2905 Session of 1996
INTRODUCED BY PLATTS, B. SMITH, STETLER, NICKOL, WAUGH AND
SAYLOR, SEPTEMBER 26, 1996
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, SEPTEMBER 26, 1996
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 30 (Fish) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
2 Statutes, providing for marking of dams.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Title 30 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
6 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
7 § 3510. Marking of dams.
8 (a) New dams.--In issuing permits for the construction or
9 installation of new low-head or run-of-the-river dams on the
10 waters of this Commonwealth, the department shall include a
11 permit condition requiring the permittee to mark the areas above
12 and below the dam and on the banks immediately adjacent to the
13 dam with signs and buoys of a design and content determined by
14 the commission to warn the swimming, fishing and boating public
15 of the hazards posed by the dam.
16 (b) Existing dams.--The department shall compile and
17 maintain a current list of existing dams on the waters of this
18 Commonwealth that the department determines to be low-head or
1 run-of-the-river type dams. Within three months of the effective
2 date of this section, the department shall notify the permittees
3 and owners of those low-head or run-of-the-river dams of the
4 requirements of this section. Within six months of the effective
5 date of this section or within three months of receiving
6 notification of the requirements of this section from the
7 department, whichever date occurs sooner, the permittees and
8 owners of low-head and run-of-the-river dams shall mark the
9 areas above and below the dam and on the banks immediately
10 adjacent to the dam with signs and buoys of a design and content
11 determined by the commission to warn the swimming, fishing and
12 boating public of the hazards posed by the dam.
13 (c) Maintenance of signs and buoys.--
14 (1) It shall be the responsibility of the permittees and
15 owners of low-head and run-of-the-river dams to maintain at
16 all times in proper location and legible condition signs and
17 buoys installed pursuant to the requirements of this section.
18 (2) When a permittee or owner learns that signs or any
19 buoys installed under this section have been removed or
20 defaced by an act of God or the acts or omissions of third
21 parties other than the permittee or owner or his agent, he
22 shall repair or replace the signs or buoys within 30 days. If
23 a permittee or owner or his agent removes any signs or buoys,
24 he shall have five days thereafter to repair or replace the
25 signs or buoys.
26 (d) Size, content and location of signs and buoys marking
27 low-head and run-of-the-river dams.--The commission, after
28 consultation with the department, shall establish requirements
29 for the content and location of signs and buoys to be installed
30 under the authority of this section and the time periods of the
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1 year when the signs and buoys shall be required to be in place.
2 The commission shall describe the requirements by notice
3 published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and may from time to time
4 revise the requirements as circumstances require.
5 (e) Standard of care.--A dam permittee or owner who complies
6 with the provisions of this section to mark a dam and who
7 maintains signs and buoys as required by this section shall be
8 deemed to have met the standard of care for marking a low-head
9 or run-of-the-river dam.
10 (f) Regulations.--The commission may promulgate regulations
11 to implement the provisions of this section.
12 (g) Penalties.--
13 (1) Any low-head or run-of-the-river dam permittee or
14 owner who fails to mark his dam in the manner prescribed by
15 the commission pursuant to this section commits a misdemeanor
16 of the third degree with a fine of not less than $500. Each
17 calendar year of noncompliance shall constitute a separate
18 violation.
19 (2) Any low-head or run-of-the-river dam permittee or
20 owner who fails to maintain the signs or buoys required by
21 and erected under the provisions of this section commits a
22 misdemeanor of the third degree.
23 (3) Any person who enters an exclusion zone marked under
24 the provisions of this section commits a summary offense of
25 the second degree provided that it shall not be a violation
26 of this section for the permittee or owner and his agents and
27 officers of the Commonwealth and local government to enter
28 the exclusion zone for purposes of maintaining the dams and
29 signs and buoys or for enforcement and rescue purposes.
30 (h) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
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1 words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
2 subsection:
3 "Department." The Department of Environmental Protection of
4 the Commonwealth.
5 "Low-head dam." A dam or structure in the waters of this
6 Commonwealth regulated or permitted by the Department of
7 Environmental Protection pursuant to the act of November 26,
8 1978 (P.L.1375, No.325), known as the Dam Safety and
9 Encroachments Act, and which the department determines to have
10 hydraulic characteristics such that at certain flows persons
11 entering the area immediately below the dam may be caught in the
12 backwash.
13 "Owner." The person who owns a low-head or run-of-the-river
14 dam regulated by the Department of Environmental Protection
15 pursuant to the act of November 26, 1978 (P.L.1375, No.325),
16 known as the Dam Safety and Encroachments Act.
17 "Permit." A permit issued by the Department of Environmental
18 Protection pursuant to the act of November 26, 1978 (P.L.1375,
19 No.325), known as the Dam Safety and Encroachments Act.
20 "Permittee." The person who has been issued a permit by the
21 Department of Environmental Protection to maintain a low-head or
22 run-of-the-river dam.
23 "Run-of-the-river dam." A manmade structure regulated or
24 permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant
25 to the act of November 26, 1978 (P.L.1375, No.325), known as the
26 Dam Safety and Encroachments Act, and built across a river or
27 stream for the purposes of impounding water where the
28 impoundment, at normal flow levels, is completely within the
29 banks and all flow passes directly over the structure within the
30 banks to a natural channel downstream.
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1 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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