01 M.R.S. § 001-405-8 - ADVISORY PANEL

1. The Commissioner of DACF will establish a land acquisition and management advisory panel. The advisory panel will consist of:

a. The Commissioner or the Commissioner's designee;

b. The Commissioner of Environmental Protection or the Commissioner's designee;

c. The Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife or the Commissioner's designee;

d. Two members of the public representing the agricultural sector, at least one of whom is an active commercial farmer;

e. One member of the public representing expertise in land use transactions (e.g., lawyer or realtor); and

f. One member of the public with expertise in land use planning.

2. The Commissioner will make a good faith attempt to fill one of the public seats with a person representing Indigenous communities in Maine.

3. The members of the public appointed by the Commissioner serve on the land acquisition and management advisory panel for terms of 3 years. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, the Commissioner shall appoint initial public members to the land acquisition and management advisory panel as follows: 1 member of the public for a 2-year term, 2 members of the public for 3-year terms, and 1 member of the public for a 4-year term.

4. Public members of the land acquisition and management advisory panel will be entitled to reimbursement of expenses in accordance with 5 M.R.S.A. §12002-D when funding is available and prior approval is received from the PFAS Fund director.

5. The role of the advisory panel is to help prioritize which properties to purchase and to recommend management strategies for properties acquired by DACF. Final decision-making authority rests with the Commissioner.

6. Prioritization criteria for land purchases may include but are not limited to:

a. Degree and extent of PFAS contamination of soil and/or groundwater (highest priority will be given to commercial farms with greater PFAS contamination);

b. Percentage of soils classified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (and confirmed with onsite soil-testing) as prime farmland, unique farmland, farmland of statewide importance, and farmland of local importance (highest priority will be given to commercial farms with more soils classified by the USDA as prime farmland, unique farmland, farmland of statewide importance, and farmland of local importance);

c. Magnitude of financial loss resulting from PFAS contamination (higher priority will be given to commercial farms that have experienced greater financial loss);

d. Economic viability of the working farmland property in terms of current and potential future commercial agricultural activities in local, regional and statewide markets (higher priority will be given to commercial farms with greater potential for future commercial agricultural activities);

e. Natural resources values associated with the farmland property, including open space land, forested land, wetlands, riparian buffers, and wildlife habitat (higher priority will be given to commercial farms with higher natural resource values); and

f. Costs associated with maintaining the property (higher priority will be given to commercial farms with lower maintenance costs).

7. DACF reserves the right to cap the amount of funding for all requests based on available resources.

Notes

01 M.R.S. § 001-405-8