An Act to Require Landowners to Report Their Participation in a Forest Carbon Program or Project

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STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
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H.P. 3 - L.D. 39
An Act to Require Landowners to Report Their Participation in a Forest
Carbon Program or Project
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §8881, sub-§2-A is enacted to read:
2-A. Forest carbon credit. "Forest carbon credit" means a unit that is equivalent to
one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions or carbon dioxide equivalent emissions that are
avoided, removed or absorbed as a result of forest management activities that are either
undertaken or deferred to increase forest carbon storage or sequestration.
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §8881, sub-§2-B is enacted to read:
2-B. Forest carbon program or project. "Forest carbon program or project" means
a planned set of forest management activities for a defined area of forest land that is
designed to provide transferable forest carbon credits and that is developed to conform to
an existing voluntary or regulatory forest carbon protocol or registry.
Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §8881, sub-§2-C is enacted to read:
2-C. Forest carbon project developer. "Forest carbon project developer" means an
entity that acts on behalf of a landowner to establish forest carbon credits to meet the
requirements of an existing voluntary or regulatory forest carbon protocol or registry.
"Forest carbon project developer" also means a landowner that acts as the landowner's own
forest carbon project developer.
Sec. 4. 12 MRSA §8885, sub-§2-B is enacted to read:
2-B. Report on forest carbon program or project. A landowner or the landowner's
designated agent shall submit a report to the director whenever any portion of the
landowner's forest land located in the State is enrolled in a forest carbon program or project.
The report must include the following information:
A. The name of the forest carbon program or project and the name of the forest carbon
project developer, if different from the landowner;
B. The name of the voluntary or regulatory forest carbon protocol or registry and the
forest carbon program or project identification number in the registry, if known;
APPROVED
MAY 23, 2025
BY GOVERNOR
CHAPTER
96
PUBLIC LAW
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C. The legal name and contact information of the landowner or landowners as of the
date of enrollment in the forest carbon program or project;
D. The period of enrollment in the forest carbon program or project of the affected
forest land; and
E. The total forest acreage enrolled in the forest carbon program or project by town,
township or plantation.
A landowner that enrolled in a forest carbon program or project prior to the effective date
of this subsection must file the report required pursuant to subsection 2-B by July 1, 2026.
Sec. 5. 12 MRSA §8885, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. F, §47 and
affected by Pt. X, §2 and amended by PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §7 and PL 2013, c. 405, Pt.
A, §23, is further amended to read:
3. Reports. Reports required under subsections 1 and, 2, 2-A and 2-B are due during
the month of January for the preceding year. If the period of cutting under subsection 1 or
2 or 2-A extends beyond December 31st of any calendar year, a report must be submitted
during the month of January for the preceding year. A person filing a harvest notification
form pursuant to section 8883‑B must complete and return to the bureau a harvest report
whether or not the landowner has harvested that year.