The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) is the voice for Maine’s environment at the State House. We work together with people and organizations across Maine to advance progress on climate action, land conservation and wildlife protection, cleaner air and water, and holding polluters accountable for the waste they create.
These results were only possible through the collective efforts of strong coalitions and intentional partnerships involving local community groups, champion lawmakers, peer conservation organizations, and people who care about the future of Maine. We also worked closely with our colleagues in the Environmental Priorities Coalition, comprised of 40 environmental, conservation, and public health organizations, on many of these bills.
Here’s a breakdown of how we made a difference for Maine’s environment:
Bold Climate Action for Our Future
Legislators passed several bills to help Maine address high electricity costs and respond to storms made worse by climate change.
- LD 1730: A new law opens the door to small-scale plug-in solar systems that empower homeowners and renters to generate clean energy with the help of a qualified electrician.
- LD 1870: A Climate Superfund law will, for the first time, require an extensive analysis of the cost owed to Maine communities due to destructive storms and other impacts of climate change. This could lay the foundation for a future Superfund program that reduces the burden on taxpayers by requiring the world’s biggest oil and gas companies to pay Maine for the damage they have caused. We worked closely with Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Conservation Law Foundation, and Maine Conservation Voters to get it passed.
- LD 2037: Maine will also continue to receive tens of millions of dollars for energy efficiency through participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program.
- LD 2140: Promotes “time of use” electricity rates that could help Mainers save money on utility bills by encouraging the use of “off peak” electricity.
Unfortunately, Governor Mills vetoed a first-in-nation moratorium on data centers that would have allowed time to develop strict environmental and energy standards. In Maine, where our dependence on fossil fuels has already led to high energy costs, we must ensure that data center developers—many of which are funded by big tech—are not permitted to drive up energy costs for consumers, or increase pollution. We’ll remain actively involved in policy discussions about responsible development of data centers.
Healthy Lands and Wildlife
Tumbledown Mountain, an LMF site, by Leslie Burhoe
Lawmakers, for the first time, have provided an ongoing source of funding for the extremely popular Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) program. Since its establishment in 1987, LMF has helped conserve more than 650,000 acres of land across Maine, including working forests and farmland, working waterfronts, and recreational trails.
To help avoid the ongoing challenge of passing an LMF bond every few years, this year NRCM and a broad coalition of allies within the LMF Coalition—including The Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine—supported an ongoing funding source that was included in the Governor’s supplemental budget. The provision directs 25% of the monthly interest income from the State’s “rainy day fund” to be deposited in the LMF program.
Additional progress included:
- A municipal fund created through LD 1904 to assist towns in pursuing shoreland zoning violations.
- Rules were adopted to strengthen protections of vernal pools and habitat for state endangered and threatened species, and increase protection for a group of river and stream segments, including within the Sandy River Watershed, Abbott Brook in Oxford County, and the Pleasant River in Piscataquis County.
As in the past, NRCM supported the legislative priorities of the Wabanaki Nations through our active participation in the Wabanaki Alliance.
Unfortunately, Maine lawmakers failed to pass LD 2141 to enhance the protection of the water quality of Maine lakes and stem the loss of farmland. The bill would have provided $2 million annually for each program, with funding from an estimated $16 million annually in unclaimed deposits on beverage containers covered by Maine’s Bottle Bill. However, lawmakers did chose to amend the bill to pass stricter reporting requirements for the Bottle Bill to increase its effectiveness.
The House and Senate passed a bill (LD 2115) to help address the risk of toxic pollution (such as PFAS) to private wells, but the Appropriations Committee failed to provide the funding needed to establish a Well Contamination Response Fund to help cover the costs for testing, remediation, filter treatment systems, and bottled drinking water for individuals impacted by hazardous substances that contaminate their private wells.
Holding Polluters Accountable
Lawmakers continued Maine’s leadership on product stewardship, which holds corporations accountable for the waste they produce.
- A new law, LD 474 will make it easier to recycle lithium-ion and single-use batteries by updating the state’s product stewardship laws to require that manufacturers help set up recycling programs for these batteries so they can be safely disposed of and rare earth metals can be extracted for reuse.
- Lawmakers also required producers of electronic smoking devices to develop a plan to manage electronic waste through a new product stewardship program (LD 1519), and defeated a bill that would have delayed implementation of elements of a Bottle Bill modernization law passed in 2023.
- A bill aimed at protecting the rights of Maine people to repair electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones (LD 1908) passed out of committee but ultimately died because the House and Senate did not agree on final language.
Moving Forward Together
Though this year was a short session, we were collectively able to achieve several significant victories despite some setbacks. NRCM members and supporters in all 16 counties—and every legislative district—got involved in some way. Thank you to everyone who took action, by sending a message to your lawmaker, joining us at the State House, or writing a letter to the editor. All of these actions add up to make change happen! Watch our webinar highlighting the progress and outcomes from the 2026 legislative session:
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