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Legislators cast a single vote on a bond package totaling $83 million dollars. Included in that bill were $10 million dollars for land conservation through the Land for Maine’s Future program, and $8.1 million dollars for agricultural and environmental purposes.
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In 2004, the legislature exempted portions of the Androscoggin and St. Croix rivers from new water quality standards for Class C rivers, allowing those rivers to meet lower standards than anywhere else in the state. A technical mistake prevented that bill from becoming law. In 2005, policy makers revisiting it Continue...
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In its original draft, this bill prohibited the federal government from owning land in the state of Maine other than for national security purposes. The state would have been forced to purchase Acadia National Park, portions of the White Mountain National Forest and tens of thousands of acres in other Continue...
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Like “takings,” this sneaky legislation has become a perennial issue. While the bill’s title sounds reasonable, its real purpose is to hinder the enforcement of law, and perhaps create opportunities for litigation, by making the rulemaking process more complicated. The original draft made that starkly clear by requiring only the Continue...
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The “takings” bill is perennial legislation aimed at making environmental regulations too costly to implement. It would require that landowners be compensated for loss in property values due to state and local regulation.
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This bill will fund an educational outreach effort to parents, landlords and contractors to prevent lead poisoning, funded with a temporary fee collected from paint manufacturers, modeled on a program established 12 years ago in California. It also requires the state to study lead-free alternatives to lead-based products.
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Sought to change the mission of the Department of Environmental Protection to include maintaining the state’s economic viability. It also required the department to hire an economist within existing resources – in other words, instead of a scientist or other position.
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Sought to set minimum efficiency standards for 18 new appliances sold or installed in Maine in order to reduce energy consumption. This cost-effective policy option had the unanimous support of the Climate Change Stakeholders Group, which consisted of over 100 representatives from business, environment and public health interests. Efficiency standards Continue...
