The
State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution:
MAINE
| Current Projects: | United States Postal Service | Employment Arbitration | Indiana Dept of Env. Management | Indiana ADR Providers | Shared Neutrals Pilot | U.S. Dept. of Justice |
| Completed Projects: | U.S. Env. Protection Agency | EDR State of States | National Institutes of Health | Focus Groups Sessions |
The Maine courts have a centralized ADR program. Land-use cases and environmental cases are described specifically by statute as matters in which mediation might be used, and the court program has a roster of mediators chosen specifically for solving such disputes.
Legal Authority:
ME. REV. STAT. ANN. tit. 5, § 3331 (West Supp. 1998) (establishing the Land and
Water Resources Council and directing it to report to the governor on the effectiveness of
Maine’s land-use mediation program); ME. REV. STAT. ANN. tit. 5, § 3341 (West
Supp. 1998) (establishing the land-use mediation program "to provide eligible private
landowners with a prompt, independent, inexpensive and local forum for mediation of
governmental land use actions as an alternative to court action"); ME. REV. STAT.
ANN. tit. 38, § 347-A(4)(E) (West Supp. 1998) (requiring that when a water pollution
violator and the Maine Environmental Protection Department (EPD) cannot agree on the terms
of an administrative consent agreement, and the EPD elects to bring a civil enforcement
action in district court, the court must refer the parties to mediation if either party
requests mediation and the parties must meet with the mediator at least once and "try
in good faith to reach an agreement").
Contact Information:
Diane Kenty, Director
Court ADR Service
RR #1, Box 310
West Bath, ME 04530
Phone: (207) 442-0227
Fax: (207) 442-0228
Program Summary
Court ADR Service:
The predecessor to the Court ADR Service (CADRES) was created by legislation in 1984.
Through CADRES, which is part of the judicial branch, most mediation occurs in domestic
relations and small claims cases. (There were approximately 3800 domestic mediation
sessions last year with 66 mediators on the roster and 1200 small claims cases mediated
with 52 mediators on that roster.) But CADRES also maintains a mediation roster
specifically for land-use and environmental cases. To date, there are twenty-eight
mediators on the land-use and environmental roster, but only four land-use disputes have
been mediated under the statutory land-use mediation program. The state agency may pay all
of the $120 fee. Land-use mediations involve instances in which a person who is subject to
a governmental regulation of land use objects to the state or municipal government’s
actions. The landowner is responsible for a $175 fee. In environmental enforcement
actions, mediation will be used if requested by either party to the dispute.
Lessons Learned
-
Acceptance of mediation in land-use and
environmental disputes lags behind acceptance in other areas (such as domestic cases).
- Use of EDR in environmental cases depends in part on the interest and support of environmental agencies. It is important to cultivate support within these agencies.
- An executive branch office of EDR, or a core group of agency officials who embrace EDR, may have a greater impact than a court-based program.
Further Information
Publications
Further information about the judicial branch in Maine is available at the following Website: http://www.courts.state.me.us
Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute
Last updated: June 1999
Comments: ICRI Administrator
Copyright 1999 -
Indiana University, Bloomington