Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Chapter 200: Metallic Mineral Exploration, Advanced Exploration and Mining, a Late-filed Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Environmental Protection (2014)
After over two years of debate sparked by a bill introduced in 2012 directing the Department of Environmental Protection to rewrite Maine’s metallic mining rules, the legislature rejected the rules that had been drafted by the LePage administration and then weakened by the Board of Environmental Protection. Lawmakers rejected the rules as not protective enough of Maine’s water resources or taxpayers who would inevitably pay clean up costs. Instead, they passed a bill (LD 1772) directing the Department of Environmental Protection to begin again and present rules to the legislature for approval or rejection in 2016. The Governor vetoed the bill, which means there is no legislative directive to draft new rules, and the 1991 mining rules remain in effect. The roll call vote that rejected the Mining Rules is the one scored.
