Unanimous report on vernal pool bill

Recently the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources voted unanimously to support a bill that protects significant wildlife habitats including vernal pools and waterfowl, shorebird and wading bird habitat. Vernal pools are an important wetland habitat for a number of species and serve as food sources for a wide range of mammals. This legislation is an important and reasonable effort to implement a law passed 10 years ago requiring these habitat resources be protected.

How did we reach a unanimous vote on a controversial piece of legislation that has produced several opinion pieces in this paper and others around the state?

First, we did not rush.

Our work started last session. The committee received a report outlining how the Department of Environmental Protection proposed to meet our mandate to protect these resources. The report drew on a wide range of state government and academic expertise collected over the last 10 years, both about the resources and about appropriate levels of protection. We had several meetings discussing the report and then directed the DEP to go to rulemaking with other state agencies. We agreed to then review those rules during this legislative session.

Second, we checked our work.

The DEP spent extensive time in rulemaking and brought the rules back to our committee. We in turn spent a great deal of time listening to public testimony and reviewing the draft rule. The committee, the DEP and members of the public met and worked at four separate work sessions over several weeks. We talked about a wide range of scenarios in order to make sure we weren’t missing something.

Third, we made changes to address our concerns.

In order to ensure that these regulations were fair and reasonable, both for the environment and for the property owner, we made a number of changes. We increased the ways in which a property owner could determine if a vernal pool on their property was subject to the rules. We simplified and clarified the permitting process and requirements for all landowners, big and small, by having DEP commit to implementing a simplified permit-by-rule process for smaller projects. We made it clear that a landowner would be able to rely on information provided by state agencies. And we phased in the date on which vernal pools would be regulated to Sept. 1, 2007 in order to give property owners time to plan for these new rules.

Lastly, we held the line.

We made these changes in order to ensure that property owners would have a fair process that is equitable and reasonable, but we did not change the amount of critical habitat around these pools that would be governed by these rules. Last session, after discussions with the scientists and resource managers, we realized that providing the creatures with 250 feet of habitat is protective and consistent with existing state law. At the same time, we ensured that residential landowners will be able to build on their property.

With this work behind us, we look forward to seeing these rules in effect. They will promote responsible development as they improve habitat protection for the amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans and insects that need these pools in order to survive.

James D. Annis is a Republican state representative from Dover-Foxcroft.