AUGUSTA- The LePage Administration’s Environmental and Energy Resources Working Group is convening three listening sessions to solicit suggestions on specific actions that it says will assist Maine in identifying and adopting climate adaption practices or policies.

“The results of these listening sessions will be summarized and strategic approaches considered to facilitate improved collaboration on climate adaptation among the agencies,” according to a May 9 press release from the governor’s office.

The Working Group comprises staff from the Departments of Environmental Protection, Marine Resources, Agriculture Conservation and Forestry, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Department of Transportation and the Governor's Energy Office. 

The release said that part of the reason for convening listening sessions is to gather input “from stakeholder groups and individuals on how the departments might create approaches to cross-cutting and multi-agency issues to ensure that unified and consistent information is available to decision-makers,” the release said.

The listening sessions will be held in Portland on Wednesday, May 14, in rooms 214 and 215 at the Abromson Community Education Center, University of Southern Maine; in Bangor on Wednesday, May 28, at Rangeley Hall, Eastern Maine Community College; and in Houlton on Wednesday, June 11, at the DOT's Houlton location at 28 Darcie Drive.

Each listening session will provide two opportunities for people to offer their thoughts and ideas, from 2 to 4 p.m., and from 6 to 8 p.m., the same evening. 

 "We look forward to hearing suggestions that provide specific and identifiable tools to assist decision-makers in Maine's built and natural environment,” said DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho, who is chairman of the working group. “Examples of such tools or strategies might include streamlined interagency review, interagency information sharing or consolidated or shared mapping capabilities." 

The release also posed some questions for citizens:

“Has a project you have been involved with encountered conflicting guidance or rules from state and federal agencies for the same climate adaptation activity, such as restoring damaged infrastructure;

“Do you have examples of planned climate adaptation activities or suggestions on methods and means to simplify/streamline interagency review; 

“Have you encountered an instance where information relevant to an adaptation project you were involved with was held by one state agency and not available to another state agency?” 

Comments may also be submitted to DEP Sustainability Director George MacDonald at George.MacDonald@maine.gov.