MAINE PUBLIC • May 5, 2025
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has urged lawmakers to delay a bill that would make major fossil fuel companies compensate the state for damages from harmful climate change. Bills proposed by Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland and Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, would establish a climate superfund to pay for mitigation and adaption projects that prepare Maine communities for violent storms, sea level rise and extreme weather. DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim said lawmakers should wait until next year to seriously consider a climate superfund measure. The department wants to wait and see how similar laws in Vermont and New York are enacted and how they fare against legal challenges from the fossil fuel industry and the Trump administration.