Saying Maine has an "over-regulated" business climate, Gov. Paul LePage has announced the nomination of three more Cabinet appointees who are all promising to make the state more business-friendly. All will face review from legislative committees, as well as Senate confirmation. Susan Sharon reports that the man selected to head the Department of Environmental Protection is likely to be the most controversial because of a potential conflict of interest, and because of his environmental record in the Legislature.
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Darryl Brown is a former state legislator, a soil scientist and a land developer whose Livermore Falls-based firm has been selected as the lead developer for the $165 million Oxford casino resort recently approved by Maine voters.
As part of that job, the firm known as Main-Land Consultants will have to obtain local, state and federal permits for the project. That also means Brown and his partners' site development for the 65,000 square-foot project will be coming under review from the Department of Environmental Protection, the agency he's been tapped to head.
"Without a doubt, if Darryl is successful in getting through and being confirmed, he will have to recuse himself from any project that goes before the DEP," says Democratic Sen. Seth Goodall of Richmond.
Goodall says it's not unusual for potential conflicts such as Brown's to arise in a small state like Maine.
"So as long as he approaches it in a professional way, that can be dealt with," he says. As a member of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee, Goodall says he has worked with Brown, whom he describes as a "thoughtful individual."
At a State House news conference where his nomination was announced, Brown said one of his priorities is to change the attitude of the DEP. "The Department needs to put on a friendly face. It needs to welcome business to the state of Maine. It needs to work with those businesses in the state of Maine that are trying to expand. It needs to offer a helping hand, rather than one that is just the opposite."
But according to figures from the agency itself, the DEP has approved more than $5 billion worth of projects in the past eight years. On average, fewer than six permits a year have been denied during the same time period.
Emily Cain is the Democratic minority leader in the Maine House. "I'm a little concerned based on his comments today," she says. "I don't want to see the DEP demonized or turned into the enemy of anybody in the state of Maine, including the business community."
Because Brown served in the Legislature for eight years, on the Energy and Natural Resources and Public Utilities Committees, and because he's been a land development consultant for 40 years, Gov. Paul LePage says he knows how to get things done.
"He's worked with LURC, DEP and the Army Corps, and he's worked on projects as small as a residential septic system to Saddleback Ski Resort," LePage said.
James Cote, president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine, says he knows Brown from his recent and successful effort to oppose DEP's proposed revisions to the Site Location Development Law.
Cote says Brown approaches issues with balance and with a special appreciation for the business sector in an overlooked part of the state. "He really comes from a rural Maine economy. He knows the needs of rural Maine and I think that's going to be particularly important in the years to come."
But others, including Ellen Baum of Bowdoinham, say they are surprised by the selection. Baum was a lobbyist for Maine Audubon in the '80s who worked with Brown and was familiar with his environmental record.
"I would not have picked environmental protection as the area that Darryl Brown would have thought would be a good place for him to be working professionally," Baum says. "There was nothing about his votes in the mid-80's when I worked with him that suggested that was a priority of his."
According to the non-partisan Maine League of Conservation Voters, Brown was one of just seven lawmakers in 1986 who received a zero rating in its annual scorecard of environmental voting records. At the time lawmakers were considering issues such as freshwater wetlands protection, a $10,000 bond for coastal access, prohibition of chemical insecticides to control the spruce budworm epidemic, construction of the Big A dam, and reduction of acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide emissions.
In comparison, former Gov. John Baldacci never received a score below 80 during his time in the Legislature.
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