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This week, while committees were working hard to address the remainder of the bills before them, the Maine Forest Products Council was following along while also focusing on the public hearing before the Board of Environmental Protections on the DEP's proposed rules for Chapter 375: No Adverse Environmental Effect Standards of the Site Location of Development Act.
Our landowners rallied behind us, and we are proud to report that with representatives from Irving Woodlands, Wagner, Weyerhaeuser, Seven Islands Land Company and Prentiss and Carlisle present, the so-called "chainsaw marching band" attended the meeting at the Civic Center in full force. It is safe to say that our presence was felt, and that our collective voices were heard.
As you will see on the map below, this represents the most extensive rezoning effort in recent history with significant impact to land values and development opportunities for thousands of landowners in every corner of the state. Yet, by the Department’s own admission in testimony, the priority was to “get rules in place expeditiously.”
We feel that this is the wrong approach for a proposal of this magnitude.
The Council's request is for the BEP to return the proposal to the DEP pending a stakeholder process that includes the landowner community.
A copy of our written comments can be found on our website here.
The public has until March 18 to submit written comments (for more information, click here). We encourage all members who were not able to present testimony in person to submit comments.
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On the legislative front, there were no meetings scheduled on bills that the Council has taken a position on. As you will see below, there are no meetings scheduled on bills we are following next week either, but things are moving quickly at this point, so that could change. Please stay tuned to your inbox. We will send updates accordingly.
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best,
Pat and Krysta
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