Sen. Tepler appointed to commission to protect clean water access

AUGUSTA – This week, Sen. Denise Tepler, D-Topsham, was appointed to the newly created Unmanaged Storm Water Pollution Commission by Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick.

The members of the Commission will be charged with studying, reviewing and analyzing existing scientific literature, laws and data related to storm water pollution, which includes chemicals that have been carried into bodies of water by runoff. The Commission will then submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, which is chaired by Sen. Tepler, by December 1 of this year. The report will feature recommendations from the commission on strategies to address storm water pollution.

“I’m eager to get started on the work this commission has been assigned,” said Sen. Tepler. “Every time we get major or consistent rainfall, there is a risk that weed killers, fertilizers and other pollutants get caught up in the runoff and carried into lakes, ponds, rivers and the ocean — natural resources that generations of Mainers have worked to keep clean. This is a serious issue for our fishing industry and can have unforeseen effects on the health of Mainers.”

LD 646, “Resolve, Establishing the Commission to Study Unregulated Storm Water Pollution,” was signed by the Governor in April of this year, and aims to build upon the work that has been done by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Stormwater Advisory Group, as well as the “Maine Won’t Wait” climate action program. 

Interested parties can sign up for notifications about meeting dates and additional information on the Commission here.

Sen. Tepler is serving her first term in the Maine Senate, and is the Senate chair of both the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the Marine Resources Committee.

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