Panel backs Web sales of burn permits

AUGUSTA – Residents in some parts of the state may soon be able to buy a burn permit online with the click of a mouse.

After a public hearing Wednesday, the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee voted unanimously to begin a two-year pilot program to allow people in southern Maine and unorganized territories to pay $7 to purchase a burn permit through a new state Web site.

The proposal now will be forwarded to the Appropriations Committee for review.

The program is part of Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed biennium budget and is designed to alleviate an anticipated $1.5 million deficit in the Maine Forest Service budget.

“In the last biennium, there was a similar hole that resulted in the loss of 11 forest rangers,” Bill Williams, director of the Forest Protection Division of the Maine Forest Service, said Wednesday.

The pilot program began as a proposal to charge $5 for all burn permits issued in the state, through both municipal fire wardens and the proposed state Web site.

Fire officials from across the state, however, voiced concerns about increased illegal burning, loss of local control and accessibility to the Internet.

“I wish we could come up with a better way of funding this,” Bruce Bell, a firefighter in Leeds, said at Wednesday’s hearing.

The original proposal was tailored Wednesday to encompass only southern Maine, where Internet access is more common and nearly 80 percent of burn permits are issued annually, and unorganized territories, where the Maine Forest Service already issues all burning permits.

Southern Maine was defined as an area south of an imaginary line from Jackman, through Dover-Foxcroft and ending near Vinalhaven.

To compensate for fewer participants in the program, the original $5 fee was increased to $7. Of that, $6 would be transferred to the state’s General Fund, and the other dollar would go to InforME, the state’s online licensing system.

Under the proposal approved Wednesday, residents in the pilot program could apply for a permit online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and pay the $7 fee by credit card.

Burn permits also would continue to be available statewide through the existing system, from municipal fire wardens, at no cost.

To prevent permits from being issued during unsafe conditions, municipal fire wardens could set criteria for their area through a password-protected Web site, or by calling a regional office of the Maine Forest Service.

All permits issued through the Web site would generate an e-mail or text message that would be sent to municipal offices, fire departments and dispatch centers.

Residents now call or visit their municipal fire warden, who often doubles as a chief or firefighter with the local fire department.

While state officials say the changes could result in greater compliance and consistency statewide, many local fire officials disagree.

Jethro Pease, fire chief in Morrill, said Wednesday that while he supports funding the Maine Forest Service, he doesn’t have the personnel or Internet access to check e-mail notifications of burn permits issued in his area.

“We’re still kind of old-fashioned, and we kind of like it that way,” Pease said.

Blueberry growers also weighed in at Wednesday’s hearing with concerns about losing precious days to burn blueberry fields.

Local fire officials know which fields are bordered by woods and ponds, and can work with growers to take advantage of the short season, said David Bell, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine.

“If there are going to be any fees, why isn’t it going to the local fire department?” Bell said Wednesday.

Several people, however, spoke out in favor of the proposal, including representatives from the Maine Audubon Society and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Both representatives said the Maine Forest Service’s ability to protect the state’s woods would be threatened without the funding generated by the proposal.

A Hudson resident weighed in with more practical concerns, saying he has to drive 18 miles to get a burn permit at the town office.

“It’s a pain in the butt,” Mike Belliveau said, admitting that he burns on his property two to three times a year. “I’m willing to pay a few bucks for the convenience.”