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.
Opponents want the DEP to pause rulemaking and consult with the engineering industry to make more flexible measures that can be tailored for individual properties.
But Seth Wilkinson said that nature-based methods work, and the only way to promote more of the projects is by restricting artificial methods. Some older engineers are unfamiliar with using biodegradable materials and building so-called living shorelines to address erosion, Wilkinson added. His company Wilkinson Ecological has built projects like that along the East Coast.
"Understandably they are saying 'I'm not comfortable with this, there are no standards I can work with the way there is for a rock revetment or riprap. It's hard for me to license this it creates liability,'" Wilkinson said. "All those things are true and the main reason for that is that it isn't civil engineering."
State officials argue artificial barriers can reflect wave energy, damage nearby property and disrupt necessary sediment discharge into coastal wetlands. Under the proposal, homeowners would have to prove natural methods would not work before proposing to harden shorelines.
The timeline for public comment on the rule expires January 13.
Maine Public’s Climate Desk is made possible by Androscoggin bank, with additional support from Evergreen Home Performance, Bigelow Laboratory, & Lee Auto Malls.
