Wednesday, January 7 marked the beginning of the Second Regular Session of the 132nd Legislature. Even-numbered years are commonly known as the “short session,” though they feel anything but short to those involved. This sessions is scheduled to adjourn on April 15, providing just a few months for legislators to work through a sizable number of bills that were carried over from last year, as well as the new bills that have been introduced.
On Wednesday, the Council testified “Neither For Nor Against” on LD 1761, An Act to Prohibit Indemnification Agreements. This bill was introduced last year in the HCIFS committee and went through the committee process and now has been reassigned to the Judiciary Committee. MFPC members have taken a variety of positions on this consequential legislation, so rather than taking a position, our testimony focused on some areas that the committee should consider as they work this bill, including:
- Potential impacts to a variety of public uses of private lands including bear baiting, camp leases and trails.
- The importance of these clauses in conservation easements, especially for those that secure public access in perpetuity (i.e. LMF).
- Conflicts between this proposal and the North Maine Woods visitor agreement.
- The use of indemnity in Right of Way easements for all types of activities.
- The question of how foresters would understand the duty of care required for the maintenance of private property, and steps landowners would likely have to take to mitigate risk (i.e. restrict public access).
The Council will continue to monitor the progress of this bill to keep our members updated.
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On Thursday, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee voted to confirm two new members of the Land Use Planning Commission, Wayne Jones of Trescott Twp and Peter Pray of Millinocket.
Also on Thursday, the Housing and Economic Development Committee (finally) voted on LD 161, “Resolve, Directing the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to Convene a Stakeholder Group Tasked with a Comprehensive Overhaul and Modernization of the State Subdivision Laws. The Council testified neither for nor against this bill last year, and will continue to monitor it’s progress.
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In regulatory news, the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) recently met to finalize their recommendations to the Legislature regarding the Triennial Review of Maine’s Water Quality Classification System and Related Standards. Though the BEP ultimately voted to uphold staff recommendations that are based on the scientific data, they did chose to send a letter to the Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee at the Legislature indicating that one board member would like to see an upgrade of two rivers despite failing to meet the qualifications on a more aspirational basis.
Upgrading either river prematurely would have significant and irreversible ramifications on all industrial and non-industrial dischargers.
According to DEP staff, on the Presumpscot River, modeling showed dissolved oxygen and nutrient criteria would require roughly a 25% BOD reduction for DO attainment and ~55% reduction to meet new nutrient criteria (based on nutrient data collected over the past year).
DEP staff further explained that for the Androscoggin, modeling indicates BOD (biological oxygen demand aka the measure of oxygen that is consumed by microorganisms in the process of breaking down organic matter in the water) reductions of roughly 54% would be needed for the three dischargers above Gulf Island Pond (with the caveat that upstream nutrient data are limited) and ~33% below Gulf Island Pond (from the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority).
For both rivers, the cost to comply with a premature river reclassification for all dischargers would be very high, and according to DEP staff, even if these reductions were achieved through future permitting, they would not necessarily guarantee attainment because of non-point source inputs and other factors.
The ENR Committee will meet on Wednesday, January 14 at 10:00 AM to review the recommendations of BEP.
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Finally, public comments to FERC were due this week for the Notice of Application of Transfer of License for the Shawmut Dam on the Kennebec River. The Council submitted comments in opposition to this transfer for a number of reasons including the lack of a technological solution to a full dam removal that would support Sappi’s operations. Sappi is the heartbeat Maine’s $8.3 billion forest economy, which supports 29,000 jobs across all 16 counties.
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No MFPC priority bills have been scheduled for next week, but our team will be in Augusta and closely monitoring committee activity.
The Council will hold a breakfast event on January 20 for lawmakers to provide an update on the 2025 Spruce Budworm EIS program, and to provide information about plan for 2026 and beyond. This event is open for all lawmakers and members. Please sign up now using the link below if you would like to attend.
As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you all for lending your help and expertise so far this session.