Local stakeholders weigh in on LePage environmental reforms

By ALISON ALOISIO

Feb 17, 2011 12:01 am

Gov. Paul LePage's 60-point proposal to reform Maine's environmental regulations has prompted discussion and debate among business and environmental leaders across the state. The Bethel area is no exception.

The proposed reforms are intended to make Maine more business-friendly. Some are broad – such as making Maine’s current environmental regulations conform instead with often less-stringent federal regulations, and requiring new rules to be “predicated on valid science” – others are more specific, such as allowing construction closer to vernal pools and increasing the size a proposed subdivision must be before it will be reviewed under the state’s environmental site law.

The proposals would also significantly change the regulations of the Land Use Regulation Commission, which governs the state’s unorganized territories.

For example, LePage’s LURC proposals include a requirement that not less than 30 percent of LURC’s 10 million acres be zoned for development, and would remove from LURC statutes the prohibition on approving projects unless “adequate provision has been made for fitting the proposal harmoniously into the existing natural environment in order to ensure there will be no undue adverse effect on existing uses, scenic character and natural and historic resources.”

SUNDAY RIVER’S VIEW

Mark Hall, vice president of development at Sunday River Ski Resort, has played a role in the re-form discussion at the state level.

In December, Hall wrote then governor-elect LePage asking for more streamlined approval from DEP for small projects, such as chair-lift buildings. Large ski resorts are currently required by Maine’s Site Location of Development law to file a DEP application for all projects, a process Hall said can take months.

“We do projects that should be subject to site review, but we do dozens of little projects that shouldn’t,” he said. “The DEP is spending an inordinate amount of time reviewing overly complex applications for relatively minor projects.”

(In response to Hall’s concern, a DEP official countered at that time that ski resorts are always growing, and the reviews ensure that wildlife, streams and sensitive areas are protected.)

Last Wednesday Hall participated in a press conference held by the Maine State Chamber of Com-merce, again noting the small-project issue. Later in the week, he discussed several other reforms he said Sunday River supports.

Hall said the resort favors in principle the proposal to increase the minimum size of a subdivision that would trigger DEP review under the state’s environmental site law.

The current law requires DEP review if there are at least 15 lots on a total land area of more than 30 acres. The governor’s specific proposal calls for doubling those two figures. (Hall noted that in Sun-day River’s case, as with individual buildings, the size of a particular subdivision at a large ski resort doesn’t matter because DEP would review it anyway.)

He also said Sunday River favors eliminating the current requirement for a third-party inspector to monitor large projects, in order to ensure erosion control measures are in place during construction. The responsibility instead should rest, he said, with the professional who designs the project.

The governor’s list also proposes that if there is adequate review in place at the municipal level [such as by a planning board], additional review by DEP would be eliminated. Hall said the resort supports “reducing” DEP review in such a case.

Another proposal would reduce the filing fees for DEP applications. “These fees should cover the le-gitimate costs of reviewing applications, but the intent shouldn’t be to generate net revenue for the state,” said Hall.

Another change the resort favors, although it is not addressed specifically in the reform proposals, is to align DEP’s required setback from streams and other waterways with the 75-foot setback required by the Natural Resources Protection Act. He said that as far as he knows, DEP does not have a setback that has been defined through a formal rulemaking process, but the agency uses a distance of 100 feet. “That’s a difference of 25 feet on either side of a stream. On our property that is a significant amount of land,” he said.

As for the overall intent of the reforms, “We’re talking for the most part about changes to process,” he said. “We’re very committed to maintaining the environment on the resort.” Streamlining the administrative process, said Hall, “will let the applicant and DEP operate more efficiently. It allows more time to focus on major projects.”

SMALL BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

Also weighing in on the proposed reforms is Bethel businessman Dennis Doyon, a member of the Bethel Business Association. He favors reform.

One current regulation that he sees as problematic is the protection of vernal pools. According to DEP’s website, such pools “are shallow depressions that usually contain water for only part of the year. Although vernal pools may only contain water for a relatively short period of time, they serve as essential breeding habitat for certain species of wildlife, including salamanders and frogs.”

Doyon said the definition is not clear. “A skidder rut can be a vernal pool,” he said.

He also said the consideration of “scenic impact” in reviewing projects results in judgments that are too subjective.

Regarding the overall intent of reform, Doyon said the main message is that regulations need to be streamlined.

“If we can streamline them, the state may become more welcoming to business. Let’s not play by three sets of rules [local, federal and state],” he said. Doyon cited a Forbes Magazine’s study that rated Maine 50th among the states in business climate, a rating the LePage administration has used to support the reform initiative.

But despite the proposed changes, Doyon said, “nobody’s talking about doing away with good sound environmental protection. No one’s saying let’s rape and pillage.”

PROTECT, RATHER THAN RESTORE

For years, Steve Wight of Newry has worked to promote conservation in this area, through work with such organizations as the Friends of the Androscoggin, the Mahoosuc Land Trust and now the Newry Conservation Commission.

He also served 23 years as a LURC commissioner, many of them as chairman. He was also the de-veloper of the Red House Farm Village in Newry.

He describes his concerns about the reforms:

“My initial take on the list is that it appears to be an attempt to take Maine back to the 60s when there were no rules. I think that before this group of laws is considered for enactment, the state should have a conversation about our vision of the future.

Since John Gray and I founded the Newry Planning Board in the early 70s, I have sought to create rules locally and statewide that would assure that Maine would not become like so many states to our south, where the environmental work involves restoring what was lost rather than protecting what is here.

“As Maine sits at the dawn of a new world of industries and careers, I pray that we not go back to the old ways that allowed the industries of the past to pollute our rivers, lakes and air in the name of ‘progress.’ Progress in the future will look very different and will depend on Maine maintaining its place as the state with the largest contiguous forest east of the Mississippi.

“New economies are beginning to appear even now, and to destroy the environment that we have sought to protect in the name of short term gain would be very foolish indeed.

“I may perhaps be seen as biased, having served on the LURC Commission for 23 years, but I believe that the only way to keep what we have is through regulation.

“Sure, we should take a hard look at our laws and make changes where they are outdated or open to misinterpretation, but throwing out the good with the bad is not the answer.

“The natural world is extremely interconnected. If we do away with vernal pools to allow development to take their place, we will eventually find that we have destroyed a vital link in the natural order.

“Many other states have less stringent laws regarding environmental issues than we do here in Maine, but one need only drive a couple of hundred miles south to see the effects of those laws. Sixty-one percent of the voters in the November referendum election voted in favor of the Land for Maine's Future Bond. I think that those voters were agreeing with Robin Zinchuk [of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce] when she says, ‘We don't want to be 'Anywhere, USA.'

“Let's all call on our legislators to tell us just what future vision they are looking toward as they consider lowering Maine's environmental standards and tell them what WE would like to see for our children and grandchildren.”

(Note: the writer is married to Sunday River engineer Joe Aloisio, who works on projects with DEP.)

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