Lawsuit shows divide between Janet Mills and Maine environmentalists

AUGUSTA, Maine — After multiple rounds of destructive flooding and storms dating back to December ravaged a vast chunk of Maine, environmentalists took the state to court and argued that Gov. Janet Mills is not acting with enough urgency to meet her own climate goals.

The Conservation Law Foundation, Maine Youth Action and Sierra Club filed their lawsuit in April against the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Environmental Protection. The suit claims the state has not taken timely steps to follow a 2019 law requiring Maine to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

In June, the state asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. A final decision is not expected for some time. The pending lawsuit in a Portland court illustrates a nuanced clash between environmentalists and a Democratic governor who has made climate a key part of her profile since taking office in 2019.

In that way, it differs from a similar lawsuit in Republican-led Montana, where the state is asking its top court to reverse a lower court’s landmark ruling in 2023 in favor of youth environmentalists who argued Montana was violating residents’ constitutional right to a clean environment by allowing oil, gas and coal projects without regard for global warming.

Observers have noted differences exist between the cases in Montana and Maine. A legal expert noted the highest court in Massachusetts ruled in favor of environmentalists in 2016 after they sued the state over its failure to implement emissions reduction targets.

“What we’ve seen is the lawsuits that have a basis either in the Constitution or an explicit climate change statute often succeed,” said Michael Gerrard, a Columbia Law School professor who leads the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law .

Mills’ environmental protection department released an update in June that showed progress on climate goals. The update found emissions were 30 percent lower than 1990 levels as of 2021 and that Maine was 91 percent of the way to meeting the 2045 carbon neutrality goal, thanks largely to carbon storage in trees and wood products.

But the environmental groups suing Maine argued the state has missed other statutory deadlines, and they quoted past remarks from Mills on how “the time to act is now.” The four-year “Maine Won’t Wait” climate plan has another update due in December .

Sean Mahoney, the Conservation Law Foundation’s vice president and senior counsel, said in an interview Friday there is “some irony” in the state adopting a “Maine Won’t Wait” plan.

“Essentially, the state is now saying, ‘Maine should be allowed to wait,’” Mahoney said.

The lawsuit also hits the seven-member Board of Environmental Protection, whose members were each appointed or reappointed by Mills, a Democrat, for voting in March to not adopt the “Advanced Clean Cars II” rules that called for electric vehicles to make up 82 percent of new sales in the state by 2032.

The plaintiffs were among the groups that petitioned the state to adopt the California-style rules and similar ones for trucks , but board members expressed a desire for lawmakers to instead handle the issue .

Additionally, the environmental groups claim the department and board have not followed a provision of the 2019 law calling for them to adopt rules by Sept. 1, 2021, that prioritize cutting emissions from the most contributing sectors. The biggest contributor in Maine is transportation, which accounts for roughly half of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead of adopting rules, the Department of Environmental Protection has instead only weighed in on state clean transportation and heavy-duty vehicle plans, the plaintiffs said, noting a 2021 transportation roadmap recommended adoption of the EV sales requirements.

The department and board do not comment on pending litigation but asked the court to dismiss the case in a June motion filed by Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office. The motion said the request for the board for rules reducing transportation emissions by November is “inappropriate” given the state’s periodic update to its climate action plan is due the following month.

Frey’s office noted newer federal rules are aimed at expanding EV sales and how the Legislature passed a new law this spring that requires lawmakers to review vehicle emission rules before any are adopted. The lawsuit’s request for the court violates constitutional separations of powers between government branches, its filing said.

Mahoney, with the Conservation Law Foundation, said the plaintiffs hope the court could get to the “substance” of the arguments this fall, but the case’s timeline is uncertain.

He said Mahoney credited the Mills administration for seeking and receiving federal funds supporting heat pump adoption , electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other initiatives, but he added the state cannot avoid following its statutory timelines to reduce emissions.

“If it requires a lawsuit for you to do this, OK, we’ll bring a lawsuit,” Mahoney said. “We recognize it’s a hard job, but in the words of [former New England Patriots coach] Bill Belichick — ‘do your job.’”