A.
ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS
The Chair of the Energy Infrastructure Interagency Review
Panel (the "Panel") is authorized to carry out all administrative functions of
the Panel, including execution of instruments, documents and agreements,
appearing in or instituting legal proceedings, managing funds, making
determinations pertaining to confidentiality of records, carrying out any
resolution of the members or agreement of the Panel and employing experts,
officers, agents and other personnel and determining their qualifications,
duties and compensation. Compensation of Panel members and Panel consultants
will be at the direction of the Panel.
B.
BYLAWS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE
PANEL
1.
Name. The name of
the Panel is the Interagency Review Panel.
2.
Purpose. The Panel was
created by the Maine Legislature for the purposes set forth in An Act Regarding
Energy Infrastructure Development, Chapter 655 of the 2010 Public Laws (the
"Act").
3.
Members of the
Panel. The members of the Panel shall be appointed and compensated and
shall serve such terms as the Act may specify.
4.
Quorum of and action by the
members. If four members are present at the beginning of any meeting,
then a quorum exists for the transaction of business. If any member(s) departs
from a meeting at which a quorum was originally present, a quorum continues to
exist. The affirmative vote of the greater of a majority of those present and
voting or four members is necessary for any action taken by the members, except
that (1) in the case of an action to enter into Executive Session, the
affirmative vote of at least 3/5 of those present and voting is required, and
(2) in the case of an action to approve the minutes of a prior meeting, the
affirmative vote of a majority of those present and voting who were present at
the prior meeting is sufficient. For all actions specific to one or more
designated statutory corridors, as that term is defined in the Act, the
Commissioner of Transportation or the Commissioner's designee, the Executive
Director of the Maine Turnpike Authority or the Executive Director's designee,
and the Executive Director of the Loring Development Authority or the Executive
Director's designee, shall be voting members only with respect to actions
affecting the corridors for which they have designated
responsibility.
5.
Officers
of the members. The Chair of the Panel shall be the Director of the
Office of Energy Independence and Security (OEIS). The members shall elect from
among themselves a Vice Chair who shall serve as secretary, and such other
officers as it may from time to time determine. The Vice Chair or other offices
other than the Chair shall have a term of one year and shall serve until the
election of their successors. The Chair shall preside over meetings of the
members. In the absence or incapacity of the Chair or if for any reason there
is no Chair, then the Vice Chair shall perform the duties of the Chair. In
addition, the Vice Chair, as Secretary, shall sign the minutes of all meetings
of the members, after such minutes have been approved by the members.
6.
Regular meetings. The members
will ordinarily meet on the first Monday of each month. The regular meeting
schedule will be available on the OEIS website. In the absence of business, the
Chair may cancel a regular monthly meeting by notice to the members.
7.
Special meetings. Special
meetings of the members may be called by either the Chair or any three
members.
8.
Location of
Meetings. Meetings shall ordinarily be held in Augusta, unless another
location is designated by the Chair. The location of the meeting shall be
included in the public notice of the meeting.
9.
Notice of Meetings. Any
meeting held on the first Monday of the month shall be deemed a regular meeting
for which no advance notice is required other than as required by law. Meetings
held on any other day shall be deemed special meetings for which notice must be
delivered to the members at least two (2) business days prior to the date of
the meeting, by mail, telephone, or e-mail and to the public by posting on the
OEIS website and by mail, telephone or email to those interested parties who
have requested notice.
10.
Order of Business. The Chair shall determine the Order of Business
of each meeting.
11.
Open
Meetings. Except for matters which may be the subject of executive
session as provided in 1 M.R.S.A. §405, all meetings, public proceedings
and deliberative sessions of the Commission shall be open to the public. The
Chair may establish time for public comment and may impose limits on public
commenters as necessary to promote the effective operation of the
Panel.
12.
Records.
All records of the Panel and its actions shall be kept by the Governor's Office
of Energy Independence and Security and made available to the public for
inspection upon reasonable request except to the extent such records are
protected from disclosure by 1 M.R.S.A. §402(3) or 35-A M.R.S.A. §
122 pursuant to Section II(B)(3) of this rule.
13.
Subcommittees. The Chair may
appoint such subcommittees as may be necessary or desirable for the efficient
conduct of the Panel's business and negotiations, provided that no action of a
subcommittee is final or binding without the approval of the Panel at a public
meeting. The subcommittee shall report a summary of any meetings to the Panel
as a whole at its next meeting and included in the Minutes.
14.
Meetings recorded. At the
direction of the Chair, or upon the request of a Proposer or another party, a
meeting of the Panel may be recorded. If the recording is at the request of a
Proposer or another party, the requesting party will be responsible for the
reasonable costs of making the recording and providing the recording to the
Panel for its records.
15.
Decision. The Panel shall issue a written decision on each
proposal for use of a statutory corridor. The written decision shall make
findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the applicable
statutory criteria. An aggrieved person as determined by the Panel may request
reconsideration based on new evidence that could not have been presented prior
to the decision, a mistake of law or other grounds. The decision of the Panel
on whether to reconsider a decision is final.
C.
CODE OF ETHICS
The members of the Panel recognize that either the existence
or the perception of a Conflict of Interest can be harmful. Therefore, the
members of the Panel adopt this Code of Ethics regarding Conflict of
Interest.
1.
Ineligible for any
benefits from the Panel
No member of the Panel or contractor or employee of the Panel
and/or such person's immediate relations may benefit from an application for
use of a statutory corridor, other than as a member of the public or in
connection with the Panel member's public sector employment.
No firm, partnership, corporation or other entity, including
a sole proprietorship may file or object to an application with the Panel if a
member of the board or contractor or employee of the Panel, or such person's
immediate relations, is materially involved in management of that entity or has
an ownership position in excess of 0.1%. This provision does not apply to the
Department of Transportation, Maine Turnpike Authority or Loring Development
Authority.
2. Panel members
must recuse themselves from any proceeding in which there is an actual or
appearance of a conflict of interest. Any potential appearance of a conflict
must be disclosed to the Chair and to the Panel in public session, and the
Panel shall determine whether such potential conflict is significant or
not.
3. A member of the Board,
contractor or employee may not accept any gift, compensation or service with a
value of more than $5.00 from any person or organization that is a Proposer, a
potential Proposer or an objector to an application. Compensation includes the
withholding of any penalty and is also interpreted to include gifts, services
or compensation to members of the employee's immediate family or household and
to gifts, services or compensations which may be given to anyone on behalf of
the employee.
