On a party line vote, a majority of the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee recently voted to reject proposed metallic mineral mining rules. The majority report rejects LD 1771 (the Land Use Planning Commission’s rules) and replaces LD 1772 (the Department of Environmental Protection’s rules) with a resolve that formally rejects both sets of rules, delays the effective date of the Maine Metallic Mineral Mining Act until June 1, 2016, and sends the rules back to the DEP to revise and submit new rules by February 1, 2016. Despite the partisan vote, Sen. Saviello (R) indicated that he would vote for the resolve on the senate floor.
