LD 2174 aims to void municipal ordinances regulating industrial scale solar, wind, battery, and transmission. Over 60% of Maine municipalities are estimated to have added these ordinances since 2018. To void them in one fell swoop is egregious, to say the least.
Now: as Tanya notes today:
First, an important update to LD 2174 that we learned about after recording the video. The sponsor has agreed to remove the sections of the bill that impact home rule. So that means local ordinances will still stand as they always have. We haven’t seen the new language yet, so I remain cautiously optimistic.
We have been trying to find out who claims responsibility for writing the language that voids home rule. It’s probably unconstitutional. See prior posts for that detail.
Now why would the legislature propose language that is unconstitutional? Well, once it is made law, it requires actual harm and a plaintiff with standing to put forward a lawsuit. That is expensive. Proposing legislation like this, even though possibly improper, is one way to get around the law and strongarm the small towns into submitting.
(Not a lawyer, just reading the situation with a skeptical eye. Why would Maine have twice as much legislation proposed as New Hampshire in any given year, when the population is about the same size? Why would the egregious amendment to LD 2174 still not be on the Maine legislature website, 5 days after the public hearing? )
On Lobbyists:
If you want to look up lobbyists and lobbying in Maine, here’s the link.
These are the current lobbyists reporting that they have worked on this bill.
To reiterate: we are unpaid for this research and reporting, and do it because we love the Maine landscape.
