Maine Public Radio — Maine's nature-based shoreline rules face pushback

Two people and dog walk by damaged and dangling dune vegetation roots at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth in January 2024. Troy R. Bennett/BDN

Dec 26, 2024

By Peter McGuire — A new state policy to encourage using biodegradable materials to prevent shoreline erosion is facing backlash from critics who say it risks damaging coastal properties.

Representatives for engineering firms and Maine realtors denounced new restrictions as inflexible and ineffective during a recent hours-long public hearing this month at the state Board of Environmental Protection.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection wants to speed up permitting for shoreline stabilization projects that use natural methods. Those practices use timber, grasses and other biodegradable materials to reestablish and strengthen natural dunes and shorelines.

But new regulations would also make it harder to get permission to install rocks and gravel to reinforce coastline near homes. Loose rock, called rip-rap, concrete and seawalls have been common methods of shoring up unstable coastlines.

Some Maine engineers argue natural methods won’t protect private property. And critics say the proposed new rules would make it difficult to build embankments that are proven to work.

Mike Morse, an environmental consultant with Archipelago Law Firm in Portland said biodegradable options won’t stand up to storms made worse by climate change. And the planned regulations are so restrictive that it will force homeowners away from unstable shorelines, Morse added.

"The risk is that they are going to lose their land and in some cases they will lose their homes and this is effectively the retreat issue that is being thrust into our faces with this rulemaking," Morse said.

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