[ Based on Medocino Draft ]

STATE OF MAINE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE POLICY (DRAFT)

The Legislature and People of the State of Maine find and declare that:

A. Every resident, present and future, of the State of Maine has an equal right to a healthy and safe environment. This requires that our air, water, earth, and food be of a sufficiently high standard that individuals and communities can live healthy, fulfilling, and dignified lives. The duty to enhance, protect and preserve the
State of Maine's environment, community health, and quality of life rests on the shoulders of local government, residents, citizen groups, and businesses alike.

B. The State of Maine and its communities have a history of making choices based on the least environmentally harmful alternatives, thereby challenging traditional assumptions about risk management. Numerous protective state ordinances and policies include: 1) Barring the aerial application of phenoxy-based herbicides; 2) Protecting water quality by requiring an environmental impact statement when an industrial development is proposed for siting where quality impacts are likely; 3) Reserving adequate stream flows for protection of fish, wildlife habitat, and other instream use; 4) Maintaining an outstanding and award winning rural household hazardous waste program; 5) Restricting the cultivation of genetically modified crops and livestock; and 6) Reducing pest
icide applications on school properties.

C. Historically, environmentally harmful activities have only been stopped after they have manifested extreme environmental degradation or major harm to people. The delay between first knowledge of harm and appropriate action to deal with it can be measured in human lives cut short and irreversible environmental damage.

D. The Precautionary Principle and its tenets provide overarching guidance for the State and its individual departments to maintain and develop policies and regulations for a healthier the State of Maine. The Precautionary Principle will not only strengthen the foundation of existing laws, policies and procedures but also assist in the development of a healthy environment for current and future generations.

E. A central element of the precautionary approach is the careful assessment of available alternatives using the best available science. An alternatives assessment examines a broad range of options in order to present the public with different effects of different options considering short-term versus long-term benefits and costs, and evaluating and comparing the effects of each option. This reveals options with fewer potential effects and/or greater potential benefits to health and the natural environment. This process allows fundamental questions to be asked: "Is the potentially harmful activity necessary?" "What less harmful options are available?" and "How little damage is possible?"

F. The alternatives assessment is also a public process because the public bears the ecological and health benefits and consequences of environmental decisions. A government's course of action is necessarily enriched by broadly based public participation when a full range of alternatives is considered based on input from diverse individuals and groups. The public should be able to suggest alternatives to be examined. For each alternative, the public should consider both immediate and long-term benefits and consequences, as well as possible impacts to the local economy. One of the goals of the Precautionary Principle is to include residents as equal partners in decisions affecting their health and environment.

G. The State of Maine looks forward to the time when the State generates more power from local renewable resources, when building and planning incorporates greater use of green building techniques, when more of our waste is recycled, when our rivers and streams adequately sustain our fisheries, when groundwater is free from contaminants, and when our foods are cultivated using less intensive methods. The Precautionary Principle provides
guidance to help us attain these goals as we enact laws and develop policies in such areas as transportation, construction, land use, water, energy, health, recreation, community relations, purchasing, agriculture, and education.

H. Realizing these goals and achieving a society living respectfully within the bounds of nature will take a behavioral as well as technological revolution. A precautionary approach to decision-making will move the State of Maine beyond finding cures for environmental ills to preventing the ills before they can do harm.

The State of Maine Precautionary Principle
The following shall constitute the the State of Maine Precautionary Principle Policy. All officers, boards, commissions, and departments of the State shall apply the Precautionary Principle in conducting State affairs. In adopting the Precautionary Principle policy, the State of Maine preserves the authority to protect the safety and welfare of its residents.

The Precautionary Principle requires a thorough exploration and a careful analysis of a wide range of alternatives. Based on the best available science, the Precautionary Principle requires the selection of the alternative that presents the least potential threat to human health and the State's natural systems. Public participation and an open and transparent decision making process are critical to finding and selecting alternatives. Where threats of serious or irreversible damage to people or nature exist, lack of full scientific certainty about cause and effect shall not be viewed as sufficient reason for the State to postpone cost effective measures to prevent the degradation of the environment or protect the health of its residents. Any gaps in scientific
data uncovered by the examination of alternatives will provide a guidepost for future research, but will not prevent protective action from being taken by the State. As new scientific data become available, the State will review its decisions and make adjustments when warranted. Where there are reasonable grounds for concern, th
e precautionary approach to decision- making is meant to help reduce harm by triggering a process to select the least potential threat. The essential elements of the Precautionary Principle approach to decision-making include:

1. Anticipatory Action: There is a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm. Government, business, and community groups, as well as the general public, share this responsibility.
2. Right to Know: The community has a right to know complete and accurate information on potential human health and environmental impacts associated with the selection of products, services, operations or plans. The burden to supply this information lies with the proponent, not with the general public.
3. Alternatives Assessment: An obligation exists to examine a full range of alternatives and select the alternative with the least potential impact on human health and the environment, including the alternative of doing nothing.
4. Full Cost Accounting: When evaluating potential alternatives, there is a duty to consider all the reasonably foreseeable short and long- term costs and benefits to public as well as private sectors of the community, even if such costs are not reflected in the price. Some of these costs and benefits may include raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, cleanup, eventual disposal, labor, energy, health, safety, and job-creation.
5. Participatory Decision-Making Process: Decisions applying the Precautionary Principle must be transparent, participatory, and informed by the best available information. The State will make a reasonable effort to include the public in an appropriate manner when making decisions that may affect the environment, health, and quality of life.