During a recent Senate candidate forum held in New Gloucester, Lois Snowe-Mello touted LD 281, a law she sponsored, as an accomplishment she was very proud of. The law creates a statue of limitations on enforcement actions taken by the state against entities that pollute the air or water. The state must now bring enforcement action within six years or the polluting entity is free from liability for its actions, thereby leaving cleanup costs to the citizens of Maine.

That law fixes a problem that didn’t exist and is a potential give-away to businesses. It imposes a limit that has the potential to force the state into costly litigation rather than to continue to work with a polluting entity to resolve conflict out of court.

Does Snowe-Mello not understand the implications of the law, or is she just hoping people won’t?

Maryann Larson, New Gloucester