Governor Janet Mills today joined the Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission to release its Plan for Infrastructure Resilience for Maine, the culmination of the Commission’s work over the last year to inform and guide the state’s response, recovery, and rebuilding from extreme storms.

The Commission’s Plan outlines a comprehensive strategy to prepare Maine’s communities, infrastructure, and economy for increasingly frequent and severe storms, like those that caused an estimated $9o million damage to public infrastructure, and untold damage to homes and businesses, across inland and coastal Maine in December 2023 and January 2024.  

The 24-member Commission was established by Governor Mills in May 2024 to develop a long-term resilience plan for Maine in response to those storms. The Commission delivered its Plan to Governor Mills at MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, which is completing a significant infrastructure improvement project with the town to address chronic flooding to its primary access road during storms. 

“In Maine, we no longer know the storms of yesterday. Storms are now more frequent and dangerous, flooding our homes and businesses, washing out our roads and bridges, and threatening the health of our people and economy,” said Governor Janet Mills. “The changes to our weather and our climate are harming people, communities, and businesses across our state. We must prevent as much damage as possible and be ready to quickly recover when storms take their toll. I welcome the Commission’s Plan for Infrastructure Resilience and thank them all for their hard work. This Plan will guide efforts in the year to come to protect this great state we all call home.”  

“We launched this Commission one year ago in my home of Stonington, which like many towns and cities in Maine, continues to recover from storms that pummeled our working waterfronts and flooded inland communities,” said Commission Co-Chair Linda Nelson of Deer Isle, Director of Economic and Community Development for the Town of Stonington. “Today, we’re proud to release this bold and actionable Plan for Infrastructure Resilience of 50 actions we can being to take right now, which reflects what we’ve heard directly from Maine people on the front lines of severe weather. We face it together as a state unafraid to acknowledge the new challenges ecosystems of today and to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow.” 

“As this Commission traveled the state, hearing from leaders about their needs and challenges in responding to more frequent extreme storms, it became clear that Maine must chart its own path to resilience to protect our communities,” said Commission Co-Chair Dan Tishman of Port Clyde, a Principal and Chairman of Tishman Realty & Construction. “Bold action informed by this Plan will save both lives and taxpayer dollars, with studies showing that every $1 invested proactively in resilience saves $13 over the long run. That’s an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up. We thank the Governor for her leadership and for entrusting us with this critical work.” 

“Damariscotta is one of many communities across Maine facing head on the impacts of climate change, and their community leaders have taken many forward-looking steps to protect its community and infrastructure,” said Hannah Pingree, a Commission member and Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, which staffed the Commission. “Storms are striking more often and with greater intensity, exacerbating rising sea levels, flooding inland communities, and knocking out critical infrastructure. This Plan looks to the days and decades ahead to protect the Maine we love for future generations.” 

“The flooding of the causeway before our resilience project forced the re-routing of traffic during major storms, which can be dangerous in an emergency when seconds matter,” said Cindy Wade, President of MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital. “The raising of the causeway and related enhancements assure that our patients and emergency medical personnel can get the care they need in the quickest and safest way possible. We appreciate the Governor’s proactive approach and the work of the Commission, which will help build a more resilient Maine.” 

“Damariscotta acknowledges the threats that natural disasters and flooding pose and we’re planning for a more resilient future,” said Andrew Dorr, Town Manager of Damariscotta. “Since 2020, the town has embarked on a multi-phase project that will protect downtown properties from flooding and has raised the causeway to Maine Health-Lincoln Hospital. As part of the Community Resilience Partnership, we’re also reducing our energy consumption for municipal buildings. The Commission’s plan for infrastructure resilience provides clear guidance and a roadmap for communities like ours to be stronger, rebound faster from storm impacts, and potentially mitigate the impacts storms will have on our infrastructure in the first place. We’re grateful for Governor Mills’ leadership and the Commission’s efforts to help us plan for a vibrant and resilient future.”   

Over the last year, the Commission held public listening sessions and site visits in Stonington, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Rumford, Mexico, Jay, Rockland, Machias, and Caribou. Their final report builds on the preliminary recommendations of the Commission’s interim report, released last November, identifying action steps, implementation timelines ranging from immediate to a decade in the future, responsible agencies and partners, and metrics for accountability. 

Initial actions stemming from the Commission’s interim recommendations are already under way, including the passage of LD 1, landmark legislation that established the State Resilience Office within the Maine Office of Community Affairs and funded programs to strengthen homes, improve flood readiness, and support emergency response and communication systems. Governor Mills signed the bipartisan bill, sponsored by House and Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, into law on April 22. The bill does not rely upon the State's General Funds during this tight budget cycle, instead using $39 million in existing fee-based funding through the Bureau of Insurance and certain Federal funds to invest in critical storm resilience measures.

LD 1 builds on $60 million the Governor proposed and the Legislature approved last year to support the recovery and rebuilding of Maine communities and businesses following the severe storms of December 2023 and January 2024 -- the single largest investment in storm recovery by any Administration in Maine history.

Last week, the Governor announced the award of $8 million in grant funding through the state's Community Resilience Partnership to help communities protect people, businesses, and infrastructure from flooding, storm surge, and other climate effects. This round of funding, the largest ever through the Partnership, will support projects in 166 communities throughout Maine, the most of any grant round since Governor Mills announced the Partnership in 2021.

The Commission’s Plan arrives at a time of increasing uncertainty around federal disaster funding. As the Commission completed its work, the federal government proposed eliminating FEMA and sunsetting critical funding programs such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. These developments underscore the importance of state-level leadership and investment in resilience.

The Commission’s Plan is organized around three pillars: 

·         Strengthening infrastructure and reducing disaster risk

·         Improving disaster preparedness, response, and rebuilding

·         Sustaining Maine’s resilience momentum through strategic investments

Each pillar includes detailed strategies and, altogether, 50 implementation actions. The Plan recommends that the new State Resilience Office established under LD 1 tracks and reports progress on the Plan. Starting May 12, this Office will be led by Brian Ambrette, who was instrumental in developing the Plan as senior climate resilience coordinator in the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

The Commission’s full final report is available here. (PDF)

For more information about the Commission, please visit its website.