Resolve, To Evaluate Climate Change Adaptation Options for the State
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0460
Committee: Natural Resources
Sponsors: SIMPSON, EBERLE, RECTOR, ADAMS, FITTS, FLETCHER, HINCK, PERCY, PIEH, SMITH

Legislative Document 
No. 460 
S.P. 163 
In Senate, February 10,2009 
Resolve, To Evaluate Climate Change Adaptation Options for the 
State 
Submitted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Natural Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator SIMPSON of Androscoggin. 
9tf)tY~ 
JOY 1. O'BRlEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Cosponsored by Representative EBERLE of South Portland and 
Senator: RECTOR of Knox, Representatives: ADAMS of Portland, FITTS of Pittsfield, 
FLETCHER of Winslow, HINCK of Portland, PERCY of Phippsburg, PIEH of Bremen, 
SMITH of Monmouth. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Sec. 1. Creation of stakeholder group; membership. Resolved: That the 
DepaItment of Environmental Protection, referred to in this resolve as "the department," 
shall establish and convene a stakeholder group to evaluate the options and actions 
available to Maine people and businesses to prepare for and adapt to the most likely 
impacts of climate change. Convening this group to respond to climate change must not 
reduce continued strong state effOlts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
The 
department shall include in its stakeholder group and the evaluation process performed 
under section 2: 
1. Representatives of business, industry and tra'de associations; 
2. Representatives of nongovernmental organizations; and 
3. State agencies with a current interest in these concerns and likely involvement in 
the implementation of recommendations. 
The department must ensure that a balance of interests is represented in decision 
making. The department may ask the University of Maine and other higher education 
institutions to provide scientific and technical expertise to the stakeholder group; and be it 
fmiher 
Sec. 2. Evaluation. Resolved: That the department shall build upon the 2009 
climate impact assessment by the University of Maine in evaluating the options available 
to Maine people and businesses for adapting to the likely environmental effects of climate 
change. That assessment concluded that climate change is already occurring in this State 
as a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and that, even with 
the greenhouse gas reduction goals set forth in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, 
section 576, more thorough planning is necessaIY to identifY and implement the State's 
responses to climate change in the areas of: 
1. Ensuring sustainable opportunities for the development of greenhouse gas offset 
projects and low-greenhouse gas emission technologies and processes in the various 
sectors of Maine's economy; 
2. Built infrastructure, including coastal and inland flooding effects on roads and 
facilities, heat effects in urban centers and beach scouring; 
3. Habitat and fish and wildlife species, including the effects of invasive species, a 
lack of adequate conservation areas, a lack of connectivity between habitat and wildlife 
and inadequate wetlands protection; 
4. Marine ecosystems; 
5. Forests and forest management practices, including a higher incidence of pests and 
fires and a lack of biomass availability; 
6. Agricultural and farming practices; 
7. Human health, including increases in heat-related and vector-borne diseases; 
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8. Water supplies and drinking water; and 
9. Emergency response systems and planning; and be it further 
Sec. 3. Report. Resolved: That by February 27,2010 the department shall report 
recommendations related to the evaluation under this resolve, along with any necessary 
implementing legislation, to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources. The 
recommendations must be organized by the affected natural resource and economic 
sectors and may include proposals for legislation, modifications to existing rules and 
specific initiatives for one or more agencies to undeliake in collaboration with 
stakeholder organizations to implement the recommendations. 
The Joint Standing 
Committee on Natural Resources is authorized to submit legislation related to the repOJi 
to the Second Regular Session of the 124th Legislature; and be it further 
Sec. 4. Funding of report. Resolved: That the depaJiment is authorized to 
accept public and private funds for the costs incurred to prepare the repmi under section 
3. All funds received for these purposes must be deposited into the Maine Environmental 
Protection Fund established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 351 and must 
be used exclusively for purposes related to the preparation of this report. 
SUMMARY 
This resolve directs the Depaliment of Environmental Protection to create a 
stakeholder group to evaluate the options available to Maine' people and businesses for 
adapting to the most likely impacts of climate change and to focus on the climate impact 
assessment by the University of Maine that concluded that climate change is already 
occurring in the State as a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases in the 
atmosphere. 
The depaliment is to repOJi recommendations, along with proposed 
legislation, to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources by February 27,2010.