PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 15, 2022
A bill to rewrite a decades-old legal settlement and restore sovereignty to Maine’s indigenous people narrowly won an 8-6 endorsement of a legislative committee Tuesday, sending the measure to the full Legislature with competing recommendations. The bill would effectively rewrite a historic land claims settlement that denied the tribes the same rights to self government that are granted to other federally recognized tribes across the country. It was opposed by all of the Republican committee members, who questioned a range of details, including the impacts on conservation and wildlife management, and whether tribes could regulate wastewater discharges from municipalities upstream of tribal territory.