AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine’s newly enacted law aimed at streamlining regulations is starting to have an impact in the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Under the law, which was approved nearly unanimously by the Legislature during the session that ended last week, the agency’s commissioner is authorized to manage environmental rulemaking considered routine and technical.

The change, which took effect Wednesday, speeds up a rulemaking process that was previously managed by the Board of Environmental Protection. The BEP will continue to weigh in on rules that are considered major and must meet legislative approval.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environmental Protection staff has been reviewing the agency’s 200 or so rules and has identified some that are obsolete or in need of revision. New rule proposals require a science-based approach and a regulatory impact analysis.


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