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Legislative panel votes to keep Maine’s ban on plastic shopping bags Enforcement of the law has been temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Share Efforts to repeal a 2019 state law banning single-use plastic shopping bags suffered a blow Wednesday when the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted 8-3 to keep the ban in place. Rep. Chris Johansen Photo from Maine Legislature The law originally was scheduled to take effect on Earth Day, April 22, 2020, but changes in consumer demand caused by the pandemic as well as disruptions in obtaining replacement...

Next step for Maine’s climate goals: Proposed laws to make them reality Dozens of ideas being promoted by lawmakers this year represent the next phase of state government's aggressive effort to address a rapidly changing climate. Share Workers are installing 30,000 solar-electric panels at the BNRG/Dirigo solar farm off Route 26 in Oxford, part of an unprecedented wave of large-scale solar projects being developed in Maine. The 38-acre site, adjacent to Oxford Plains Speedway, had been zoned for a business park. Photo courtesy of BNRG/Dirigo Some new proposals for environmental legislati...

Lawmakers violate Legislature’s COVID-19 prevention policies A group of Republican legislators without masks is shown on a recent Facebook Live video in clear violation of the State House policy for face coverings. Some Republican state lawmakers have violated a policy on mask wearing in the State House that was approved by legislative leaders from both parties to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Rep. Shelley Rudnicki, R-Fairfield, posted a Facebook Live video on Jan. 5 that features short interviews with five other Republican legislators inside the State House, apparently in the offic...