Select state land use and environmental laws and related agency rules serve as the core laws that provide the enforceable policies of the Maine Coastal Program. Under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act ("CZMA"), Maine and other states with a federally-approved coastal zone management program are authorized to review federal agencies' activities for consistency with their programs' enforceable policies.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management ("OCM") must approve changes to the Program and its enforceable policies. The Department of Marine Resources ("DMR"), which houses the Maine Coastal Program ("MCP"), has submitted for OCM's review and approval the following changes and additions to core laws which provide enforceable policies of the MCP enacted during the recently-concluded First Regular Session of the 128th Maine Legislature: Public Law 2017 c. 49, sec. 1; c. 89, sec. 1; c. 104, secs. 1, 3, 4, and 5; c. 137, secs. A-4, 5-9, 11, and 13 and B-1-3; c. 142, secs. 2-4, 7, 9, and 10; c. 146, sec. 1-2; c. 164, sec. 23; and c. 284, sec. QQ-5. Copies of these public laws may be reviewed are downloaded at:
http://legislature.maine.gov/ros/LawsOfMaine/#Law/128/R1/ACTPUB/312
DMR has also submitted recently-adopted changes to the following administrative rules administered by the Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP"), the Land Use Planning Commission ('LUPC"), and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife ("DIFW"), which are included among the MCP's core laws: DEP rules chapter 100 (definitions in air pollution control laws; changes effective November 17, 2016); LUPC rules chapter 10 (miscellaneous technical corrections and aquifer protection-related provisions; changes effective November 18, 2016 and May 30, 2017, respectively); DIFW rules chapter 8 (protection guidelines and exemptions for certain activities as they relate to bat species protected under the Maine Endangered Species Act; changes effective April 8, 2017.) The text of each of these rules, as amended, is available for download at http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/rules.html . A copy of the State's routine program change submission is available for download at http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mcp/downloads/final_RPC_filing_128.1_rules_8.2017.pdf.
DMR has determined that these changes are routine program implementation and has requested that OCM concur with this determination. Interested parties may submit comments to OCM on whether the requested changes are routine program changes by September 18, 2017.
Comments may be sent to:
Joelle Gore, Chief, Stewardship Division
Office for Coastal Management SSMC4, 11th floor
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Joelle.Gore@noaa.gov
For additional information, please contact: Todd Burrowes, Department of Marine Resources, Maine Coastal Program, 21 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333, tel: 207.287.1496; e-mail: todd.burrowes@maine.gov
Aug. 16, 2017
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