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This “takings” bill threatened the environment and public health by requiring that landowners be compensated for loss of property value due to state or local regulations. Its intent was to discourage environmental regulations by making them too costly to implement.
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Anadromous alewives, like herring and elvers, are a critical forage species at the bottom of the food chain, and an essential part of the marine ecosystem. This bill would have returned the native alewife population to a river it inhabited until 1995 when passage was obstructed.
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Would have created a new Class C crime, of “environmental terrorizing” for crimes of violence committed to protest an environmental or natural resource issue. While violence and destruction of property are wrong, they are already illegal. Thus the purpose of the bill was to characterize those who care about the Continue...
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Closed a loophole in the law that allowed forest land in the Unorganized Territories to be subdivided without review by the local planning entity, the Land Use Regulation Commission. The loophole had allowed the creation of up to ten 40-acre lots every 5 years on property outside of shoreland areas Continue...
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Would have seriously hampered attempts to address unchecked development, or sprawl, by repealing the Growth Management Program, established in 1989 to “encourage orderly growth and development in appropriate areas of each community, while protecting the state’s rural character, making efficient use of public resources and preventing development sprawl.” The bill Continue...
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Continues efforts to get mercury, a toxin, out of Maine’s environment. It restricts the sale and use of mercury and bans the use of mercury and mercury compounds in schools; restricts the sale and distribution of certain products, including fever thermometers and manometers; requires manufacturers to notify the Department of Continue...
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“The milfoil bill” was among the most contentious natural resource issues of the session. As finally passed by the Legislature, the bill attempts to prevent the introduction to Maine of Eurasian Milfoil through public education and a boat inspection program funded by a dedicated fee. Milfoil, already a problem in Continue...
