HB 269 - AS INTRODUCED
2021 SESSION
21-0234
06/08
HOUSE BILL 269
AN ACT relative to abandoned underwater cables.
SPONSORS: Rep. Silber, Belk. 2; Rep. O'Hara, Belk. 9; Rep. Bean, Belk. 2; Rep. Howard, Belk.
8; Rep. Bordes, Belk. 3; Rep. Hough, Belk. 3; Rep. Terry, Belk. 5; Rep. Gay, Rock.
8
COMMITTEE: Resources, Recreation and Development
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ANALYSIS
This bill prohibits the abandonment of underwater cables.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
 HB 269 - AS INTRODUCED
21-0234
06/08
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One
AN ACT relative to abandoned underwater cables.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 1 New Subdivision; Merrill Fay Clean Lakes Act. Amend RSA 487 by inserting after section 43
2 the following new subdivision:
3 Merrill Fay Clean Lakes Act
4 487:44 Title. This subdivision shall be known and may be cited as the Merrill Fay Clean Lakes
5 Act.
6 487:45 Purpose and Finding. The general court finds that when an underwater cable running to
7 any island in any lake in the state, whether from the mainland or from another island, is abandoned
8 for any reason including, without limitation, when the cable being abandoned has been determined
9 to be obsolete, defective, or inoperative in whole or in part and is being replaced by another cable,
10 the failure or refusal to remove the obsolete, defective, or inoperative cable in connection with its
11 replacement contaminates the lake bottom and surrounding environment and has the potential to
12 interfere with boating near the location of the abandoned cable.
13 487:46 Definition. In this subdivision, "underwater cable" means a cable, however constructed
14 and whether containing traditional electrical conductors or fiber option conductors, laid, directly or
15 indirectly, on the lake bottom and running to any island in any lake in the state, whether from the
16 mainland or from another island, to carry electric service or telecommunication signals across
17 stretches of the open lake, including without limitation telephone communication, cable television
18 signals, and Internet traffic.
19 487:47 Cable Removal Required.
20 I. Any person or entity installing any underwater cable in replacement of, or as a
21 supplement to, any existing underwater cable that has been determined to be obsolete, defective, or
22 inoperative in whole or in part, or the abandonment of such an existing underwater cable for any
23 other reason, shall remove the abandoned underwater cable, whether partially or totally submerged,
24 as an integral part of the installation of the new cable at the expense of the person or entity causing
25 the new cable to be installed.
26 II. Any person or entity causing any existing underwater cable to be abandoned without
27 replacement for any reason whatsoever shall remove, or cause to be removed, the abandoned
28 underwater cable whether partially or totally submerged at their own expense.
29 487:48 Penalty.
30 I. Any person who violates the provisions of this subdivision shall be guilty of a violation.
31 Agents of the department of safety, division of state police, or any police officer of the municipality in
 HB 269 - AS INTRODUCED
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1 which the abandoned underwater cable is submerged may issue citations for a violation of this
2 section and issue fines of $500 for each day the abandoned cable remains in the water.
3 II. No citation or fine so issued shall preclude the department from taking action under RSA
4 485-A:22 against any person or entity failing to remove an abandoned underwater cable, whether
5 partially or totally submerged, such failure being deemed to constitute an impermissible and illegal
6 contamination of the affected lake bottom; and no action initiated by the department of
7 environmental services under RSA 485-A:22 shall preclude the issuance of citations and fines
8 pursuant to paragraph I.
9 III. Any person who knowingly fails to remove a submerged or partially submerged
10 underwater cable being abandoned as required by this subdivision shall be guilty of a class B felony
11 if the surface water is the source, or a tributary to a source, from which the domestic water supply of
12 a city or town is taken, in whole or in part.
13 2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 180 days.