An Act To Permit Supplemental Environmental Projects for Forest Practices Violations
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1863
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: FLOOD, BRYANT, JODREY
Amends: 12 MRSA §8870

Legislative Document 
No. 1863 
H.P. 1303 
House of Representatives, January 3,2006 
An Act To Permit Supplemental Environmental Projects for Forest 
Practices Violations 
Submitted by the Department of Conservation pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 28,2005. Referred to the Committee on 
Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed 
pursuant to Joint Rule 401. 
Presented by Representative FLOOD of Winthrop. 
'7r/~ /J1. 71IdC~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: BRYANT of Windham, JODREY of Bethel, Senator: 
BRYANT of Oxford. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §8870, sub-§5 is enacted to read: 
5. 
Supplemental 
envi~onmental projects. 
In 
settling 
a 
civil 
enforcement 
action 
for 
any 
violation 
of 
any 
of 
t~e 
provisions of the laws administered by the bureau, 
including 
without limitation a violation of the terms or conditions of any 
order, rule, license, permit, approval or decision of the bureau, 
the parties may agree to a 
supplemental environmental project 
that mitigates 
not 
more 
than 
80% 
of 
the 
assessed 
penalty. 
"Supplemental 
environmental 
project" 
means 
an 
environmentally 
beneficial project primarily benefiting the public health or the 
environment that a violator is not otherwise reguired or likely 
to perform. 
A. 
An 
eligible 
supplemental 
environmental 
project 
is 
limited to the following categories: 
(1) 
Environmental 
enhancement projects in the 
sQme 
ecosystem or 
geographic 
area of 
the violation that 
significantly improve an area beyond what is reguired 
to remediate any damage caused by the violation that i~ 
the subject of the enforcement action; 
(2) 
Community forestry projects in the same ecosystem 
or geographic area of the violation that are conducted 
in accordance with the purposes of section 8705; 
(3) 
Environmelltal 
awareness 
projects 
substQntialL' 
related 
to 
the 
violation 
that 
provide 
training, 
publications or 
public and that 
technical support to members 
of tbe 
are regulated by the Department of 
Conservation; or 
(4) 
Scientific research and data collection proj_ects 
that advance the scientific basis on which regulatory 
decisions are made. 
B. 
A supplemental environmental project may not be used in 
the following situations: 
(1) 
Repeat violations of the same or a substantially 
similar 
law 
administered 
by 
the 
Department 
of 
Conservation by the same person; 
(2) When a project is reguired by law; 
(3) 
If 
the 
violator 
had 
previously 
planned 
and 
bUdgeted for the project; 
14) 
To 
offset 
any 
calculable 
economic 
benefit of 
noncompliance; 
(5) 
If the violation is the result of reckless or 
intentional conduct; or 
(6) 
If the project primarily benefits the violator. 
Any settlement that includes 
a 
supplemental environmental 
project 
must 
provide 
that 
expenditures 
are 
not 
tax 
deductible 
and 
are 
ineligible 
for 
certification 
as 
tax-exempt pollution control facilities pursuant to Title 
36, chapters 105 and 211. 
SUMMARY 
This bill replicates existing law relating to the Department 
of Environmental Protection within the Title of the Maine Revised 
Statutes relating to the Department of Conservation, Bureau of 
Forestry. 
It would allow the Bureau of Forestry to incorporate a 
supplemental environmental project into the settlement of a civil 
enforcement action for any violation of any of the provisions of 
the 
forest 
practices 
laws 
administered 
by 
the 
bureau. 
"Supplemental 
environmental project" 
under 
the bill means 
an 
environmentally 
beneficial 
project 
primarily 
benefiting 
the 
public health or the environment that a violator is not otherwise 
required or likely to perform.