This bill, which is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 3, section 955, subsection
4, implements recommendations resulting from the committee’s review of the Board of
46 Environmental Protection under the State Government Evaluation Act. The bill amends
47 procedures of the Board of Environmental Protection regarding appeals of licensing or
48 permitting decisions of the Commissioner of Environmental Protection as follows.
1. It specifies the composition of the record to be considered by the board in deciding an appeal of a final license or permit decision of the commissioner.
2. It clarifies that an appellant to a final license or permit decision must include in the appeal all information required by rule of the board.
3. It clarifies the persons that may offer proposed supplemental evidence in an appeal proceeding before the board and the circumstances under which that evidence may be submitted to the board and provides that it is the chair of the board that determines the admissibility of that evidence.
4. It codifies a longstanding practice of the Department of Environmental Protection to allow a licensee or permittee, if the licensee or permittee is not an appellant to a final license or permit decision, to submit to the board a written response to the merits of the appeal. The committee has not taken a position on the substance of the bill and, by reporting this bill out, the committee is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or disagrees with any aspect of this bill. The committee is reporting the bill out for the sole purpose of obtaining a printed bill that can be referred to the committee for a public hearing and subsequent committee action in the normal course.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 2210, HP 1489: 38.341