JournalTOCs

Maine Policy Review
Number of Followers: 2

This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 1064-2587
Published by U of Maine

[2 journals]

Integration, Regulation, and Collaboration: Three Steps to Combat Climate
Change
- Authors: Victoria Leavitt
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2023 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the issues surrounding climate change. Essays have been edited for length.
  PubDate: Tue, 11 Jul 2023 11:34:25 PDT
A Climate Action Blueprint
- Authors: Logan Blanchette
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2023 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the issues surrounding climate change. Essays have been edited for length.
  PubDate: Tue, 11 Jul 2023 11:34:25 PDT
Dear Government, Take Action against Climate Change
- Authors: Edgelynn Venuti
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2023 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the issues surrounding climate change. Essays have been edited for length.
  PubDate: Tue, 11 Jul 2023 11:34:24 PDT
The Disposal Mode of Maine’s Waste Governance
- Authors: Travis Blackmer et al.
  Abstract: Maine’s materials management system is stuck in a disposal mode of waste governance. Despite significant investments in programs and policies designed to reduce the amount of waste the state buries each year, recent shocks and uncertainties have resulted in increased waste generation and disposal. This paper analyzes specific ways through which materials management in Maine has become locked in to a disposal mode of waste governance. We build a framework to help understand various forms of lock-in and how they might be unlocked. This framework is applied to the extended producer responsibility packaging law that is presently under the rule-making process in Maine, the first state to adopt such a policy in the United States.
  PubDate: Tue, 11 Jul 2023 11:11:22 PDT
Cradle of Conservation
- Authors: Richard Judd
  Abstract: Conservation history brings to mind epic battles over national parks, free-flowing rivers, and immense wilderness areas in the West. We should not overlook similar accomplishments in the East, however, where citizens and public officials pioneered the conservation movement well before John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt coined the term. Maine stands as an example. Not only did it establish its conservation credentials early but it also did so under complicated conditions.
  PubDate: Fri, 16 Jun 2023 08:20:09 PDT
50 Years of the Clean Water Act: Can We Sustain Its Success'
- Authors: Chris O. Yoder
  Abstract: The effectiveness of the Clean Water Act in mandating the abatement of gross pollution by setting technology standards for categories of municipal and industrial point sources is well documented. Still, the CWA has not been modernized to update water quality standards, it has not readily employed the latest science, and the benefits have not been documented nearly well enough. Increasingly insidious attempts to undermine its continued effectiveness have arisen over the past 10–15 years mostly at the state level.
  PubDate: Mon, 15 May 2023 11:31:49 PDT
Maine’s Clean Water Infrastructure: Transformative Power and Ongoing
Needs
- Authors: Brian Kavanah
  Abstract: Maine’s clean water infrastructure, particularly municipal and quasi-municipal wastewater treatment facilities, was largely built after the establishment of the CWA when federal grant funding via the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Construction Grants Program was made available on a large scale. Clean water infrastructure is often out of sight and out of mind for most people, but the maintenance and upgrading of this essential infrastructure is critical to protect water quality and public health and to support economic growth.
  PubDate: Mon, 15 May 2023 11:31:48 PDT
Shortcomings of the Clean Water Act
- Authors: Nick Bennett
  Abstract: Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, it has changed the nation’s rivers from open sewers to important commercial and recreational resources. There is no question that the CWA has changed our lives and the environment for the better, but it is a law with many limitations.
  PubDate: Mon, 15 May 2023 11:31:48 PDT
Before and After the Clean Water Act: How Science, Law, and Public
Aspirations Drove Seven Decades of Progress in Maine Water Quality
- Authors: David L. Courtemanch et al.
  Abstract: In the 1950s, Maine established a water quality classification system creating the conceptual scaffolding of a tiered system of management. Passage of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972 drove dramatic advances in science, technology, and policy leading to systematic improvement for the next five decades. Today’s tiered classification system provides a range of management goals from natural to various allowable uses. The state assigns uses and standards for each classification, incorporating physical, chemical, and biological indicators. This system has brought steady improvement in water quality, ecological condition, and overall value for human use. Visible evidence of improvement and adoption of these management alternatives have inspired a re-imagining of how Maine’s waters can benefit clean water-based businesses, recreation, and amenity development.
  PubDate: Mon, 15 May 2023 11:31:46 PDT
Assessing Teacher Turnover: Distribution of Inexperienced Teachers and
Emergency-Certified Teachers in Maine Schools
- Authors: Flynn Ross
  Abstract: Teacher turnover is a growing problem nationwide and has been found to be concentrated in high poverty districts. This study examined the uneven distribution of inexperienced teachers and emergency certified teachers across Maine’s largest school districts. Maine follows the national trend of higher proportions of inexperienced teachers in school districts with higher concentrations of low-income students. Given the known relationship between teacher experience and teacher effectiveness, this pattern further exacerbates educational inequities.
  PubDate: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 07:14:36 PDT
Are Maine Voters Ready for Drug Policy Reform' Findings from a
Statewide Survey
- Authors: Robert W. Glover et al.
  Abstract: Maine is in the midst of an unprecedented overdose crisis, which has sparked debate about the appropriate policy response to increasing prevalence of substance use disorder in our communities. This article draws upon a statewide survey to better understand the policy attitudes of Maine voters toward drug policy reform, specifically restructured drug laws, strengthened pathways to recovery, and improved strategies for harm reduction and preventing overdose deaths. Our results suggest that political rhetoric and policy positions rooted in stigmatization and criminalization of those with substance use disorder are increasingly at odds with the perspectives of Maine citizens. Maine’s unique ideological landscape, voters’ rebuke of criminally focused policy approaches in 2022, and the severity with which Mainers have been affected by substance use can be the basis for a bold set of policy reforms.
  PubDate: Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:19:44 PDT
Applying Lessons from Maine’s Educational Opportunity Tax Credit to the
Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit
- Authors: Hannah Acheson-Field
  Abstract: In 2008, Maine implemented the Educational pportunity Tax Credit (EOTC), a tax credit available to eligible recent college graduates with student debt. The share of eligible filers who apply for and receive the EOTC has been relatively low, however, likely driven by a lack of awareness about the program and its complicated application processes and eligibility criteria. In April 2022, the legislature created the Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit (SLRTC), which simplifies some of these processes. Meeting the legislature’s goals for this program, however, may require expanding awareness of the SLRTC and ensuring that the application process is simple. This article provides information and analysis about implementation of the EOTC with comparisons to the SLRTC.
  PubDate: Fri, 10 Mar 2023 10:35:06 PST
Thanks to Our Reviewers
- Abstract: List of reviewers for MPR, Volume 31.
  PubDate: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 07:44:30 PST
  Issue No: Vol. 31. (2023)
Thanks to MPR Donors
- Abstract: List of MPR donors.
  PubDate: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 07:44:28 PST
Forever Chemicals Needing Immediate Solutions: Mainers’ Preferences for
Addressing PFAS Contamination
- Authors: Charity H. Zimmerman et al.
  Abstract: Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse class of synthetic fluorinated chemicals also referred to as “forever chemicals.” The release of these chemicals into the environment presents an urgent, emerging threat to human and environmental health. Decision-makers seeking to address a variety of PFAS-related issues need better understanding of citizens’ knowledge of PFAS contamination and their preferences for managing the issue. To provide this vital information, we analyze data from a survey of Maine citizens. We assess Maine residents’ baseline knowledge of PFAS contamination, as well as their preferences for generation and allocation of funds to address PFAS contamination in Maine. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse class of synthetic fluorinated chemicals also referred to as “forever chemicals.” The release of these chemicals into the environment presents an urgent, emerging threat to human and environmental health. Decision-makers seeking to address a variety of PFAS-related issues need better understanding of citizens’ knowledge of PFAS contamination and their preferences for managing the issue. To provide this vital information, we analyze data from a survey of Maine citizens. We assess Maine residents’ baseline knowledge of PFAS contamination, as well as their preferences for generation and allocation of funds to address PFAS contamination in Maine.
  PubDate: Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:47:45 PST
Everything in Moderation
- Authors: Erin Larson
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2022 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the current coronavirus pandemic. This is the second-place essay.
  PubDate: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:03:47 PST
The Proper Role of Government in Response to the Current COVID-19 Pandemic
- Authors: Caroline Gentile
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2022 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the current coronavirus pandemic. This is the third-place essay.
  PubDate: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:03:47 PST
Finding the Balance
- Authors: Simon Hall
  Abstract: Each year the Margaret Chase Smith Library sponsors an essay contest for high school seniors. The essay prompt for 2022 asked students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the current coronavirus pandemic. This is the first-place essay.
  PubDate: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:03:46 PST
What's in a Name' Being a League of Women Voters in 2022
- Authors: Anna Kellar
  Abstract: This essay explores the ways in which the League of Women Voters in Maine lives up to its mission of making democracy work.
  PubDate: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 06:59:21 PST