An Act to Clarify Board of Environmental Protection Procedures
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2210
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Amends: 38 MRSA §341-D

Legislative Document
No. 2210
H.P. 1489
House of Representatives, February 10, 2026
An Act to Clarify Board of Environmental Protection Procedures 
Regarding Appeals of Licensing or Permitting Decisions of the 
Commissioner of Environmental Protection
Reported by Representative DOUDERA of Camden for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 3, section 
955, subsection 4.
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §341-D, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2023, c. 512, §2, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Appeal or review.  The record for appeals decided by the board is the administrative 
record relied upon by the commissioner in the commissioner's review of a license or permit 
application, any supplemental evidence admitted by the board on appeal and, if the board 
holds a hearing on the appeal, any additional evidence obtained by the board from that 
hearing. The board shall review, may hold a hearing at its discretion on and may affirm, 
amend, reverse or remand to the commissioner for further proceedings any of the following:
A.  Final license or permit decisions made by the commissioner when a person 
aggrieved by a decision of the commissioner appeals that decision to the board within 
days of the date of the decision.  An appellant shall identify in the appeal the 
licensing or permitting criterion or standard the appellant believes was not satisfied in 
the commissioner's final license or permit decision and shall include in the appeal all 
information required to be submitted by rules adopted pursuant to this section.  Any 
proposed supplemental evidence offered by an appellant must be included with the 
filing of the appeal.  The board staff shall issue to the appellant; the licensee or 
permittee, if the licensee or permittee is not the appellant,; interested persons; and to 
any other persons who have requested to be notified of the license or permit decision 
written notice of the filing of the appeal and, which must identify any proposed 
supplemental evidence offered by the appellant.  For the purposes of this paragraph, 
"interested person" means any person that submitted written comments on the 
application that is the subject of the appeal.  Within 30 days of the issuance of the 
written notice by the board staff of the filing of the appeal by the board staff, the 
licensee or permittee, if the licensee or permittee is not the appellant, and any interested 
parties identified by the commissioner pursuant to section 344, subsection 4‑A, 
paragraph B may submit proposed supplemental evidence to the board and the 
appellant addressing the issues raised in the appeal.  The chair of the board may allow 
admit proposed supplemental evidence into the record to be supplemented when it the 
chair finds that the evidence offered is relevant and material to the appeal and that:
(1)  An interested party seeking to supplement the record The person that submitted 
the proposed supplemental evidence has shown due diligence in bringing the 
evidence to the licensing or permitting process at the earliest possible time; or
(2)  The evidence is newly discovered and could not, by the exercise of diligence, 
have been discovered in time to be presented earlier in the licensing or permitting 
process.
The board shall admit into the record additional evidence and analysis submitted by 
department staff in response to issues raised in the appeal and any supplemental 
evidence allowed by the board in accordance with this paragraph. The licensee or 
permittee, if the licensee or permittee is not the appellant, may submit to the board a 
written response to the merits of the appeal.  The board is not bound by the 
commissioner's findings of fact or conclusions of law but may adopt, modify or reverse 
findings of fact or conclusions of law established by the commissioner.  Any changes 
to a final license or permit decision of the commissioner made by the board under this 
paragraph must be based upon the board's review of the administrative record relied 
upon by the commissioner in the commissioner's review of the application, any 
supplemental evidence admitted by the board on appeal and, if the board holds a 
hearing on the appeal, any other additional evidence obtained by the board through any 
from that hearing on the appeal held by the board.
If the board modifies or reverses a final license or permit decision of the commissioner 
pursuant to this paragraph, the licensee or permittee shall implement any changes to 
the project necessary to comply with the decision of the board, which may include, but 
are not limited to, deconstruction and site restoration, and the department may initiate 
enforcement actions pursuant to section 347‑A and impose penalties pursuant to 
section 349 if the licensee or permittee fails to satisfactorily implement those changes;
C.  License or permit decisions appealed to the board under another law.  Unless the 
law provides otherwise, the standard of review is the same as provided under paragraph 
A;
D.  License or permit decisions regarding an expedited wind energy development as 
defined in Title 35‑A, section 3451, subsection 4 or a general permit pursuant to section 
480‑HH or section 636‑A.  In reviewing an appeal of a license or permit decision by 
the commissioner under this paragraph, the board shall base its decision on the 
administrative record of the department relied upon by the commissioner in the 
commissioner's review of the application, including the record of any adjudicatory 
hearing held by the department, and any supplemental information allowed evidence 
admitted by the board for supplementation of the record on appeal and, if the board 
holds a hearing on the appeal, any additional evidence obtained by the board from that 
hearing.  The board may remand the decision to the department for further proceedings 
if appropriate.  The chair of the Public Utilities Commission or the chair's designee 
may serve as a nonvoting member of the board and is entitled to fully participate but is 
not required to attend meetings and hearings when the board considers an appeal 
pursuant to this paragraph.  The chair's participation on the board pursuant to this 
paragraph does not affect the ability of the Public Utilities Commission to submit 
information to the department for inclusion in the record of any proceeding before the 
department; and
E.  Decisions on insurance claims-related matters heard under section 568‑A, including 
but not limited to decisions on eligibility for coverage, eligibility of costs and waiver 
and amount of deductible. Except as provided in board rules, an applicant must file the 
appeal not later than the 30th day after the applicant receives the decision made under 
section 568‑A.  If the board overturns the decision made under section 568‑A, the 
department must pay reasonable costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred 
by the aggrieved applicant in pursuing the appeal to the board from the Maine Ground 
and Surface Waters Clean-up and Response Fund established under section 551. 
Reasonable attorney's fees include only those fees incurred from the time of an 
insurance claims-related decision forward. Decisions of the board are subject to judicial 
review pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 7.
SUMMARY
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 
Environmental Protection under the State Government Evaluation Act.  The bill amends 
procedures of the Board of Environmental Protection regarding appeals of licensing or 
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.