If you’ve never taken legislative action before, now is the time.

Your voice is needed to demonstrate strong support for an incredible funding opportunity that will keep Maine’s lakes cleaner, healthier, and more resilient long into the future. This long-term, sustained funding source could include matching grants for communities and lake associations to help support the incredible work you all do to keep your lakes clean and healthy.

Public Hearing for LD 2141

1:00 pm February 4th, 2026

Environment and Natural Resources Committee

Room 216, Cross Building, Augusta

LD 2141: An Act to Direct a Portion of Unclaimed Beverage Container Deposits to the Lake Water Quality Restoration and Protection Fund and the Maine Working Farmland Access, will provide $2 million annually to the DEP’s Lake Water Quality Protection and Restoration Fund, which could support:

• In-lake phosphorus reduction treatments for impaired lakes
• Watershed surveys to identify water quality threats
• Technical assistance and education
• Stormwater infrastructure and culvert replacement
• Implementation of best management practices
• Research on emerging threats
• Increasing DEP staff capacity

Note: The bill language currently includes $2M in funding to be allocated to the Public Defender's Office. An amendment will eliminate this allocation as the Governor will fund this Office in her budget.

Funding for LD 2141 will come from unredeemed bottle deposits, estimated by the industry to be around $16 million each year. The majority of these funds now remain with the bottling industry. Bottle deposits are public funds that, if unredeemed, should be directed to a clean, healthy environment that benefits all people. Industry lobbyists will fight against this bill and will show up in force to try to defeat it.

We need you to speak up in support of LD 2141.

Please take as many of the following action steps as you can to get this bill successfully through the committee.

1) Sign the letter circulated by the Lake Protection Coalition urging the committee to support the bill.

• Add your name to the letter. This is easy and takes less than a minute.
• Amplify your impact: Forward this sign-on letter to people in your community.

2) Submit written testimony to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Maine Lakes has detailed directions at: lakes.me/take-action. Some simple tips:

• Focus your testimony on a personal story or passion
• Share a highlight of the work you or your association does
• Highlight the need for public funding of lake protection projects
• Testimony does not have to be long; 1-2 paragraphs is all that is needed
• Review the our suggested themes and sample testimony for ideas

3) Speak at the Hearing before the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Please consider joining the Lake Protection Coalition at the public hearing on Feb. 4th at 1:00 pm in Room 216 of the Cross Building or via Zoom.

• If you plan to testify in person, please fill out this short form so we can stay in touch with you ahead of the hearing and notify you of any new developments. 
• If you want legislators to have a copy of your testimony, bring 21 copies.
• Your spoken testimony does not have to match what you submit.
• You will have 3 minutes to make your case to the committee. If there are many people coming to testify, it will benefit our cause to use less time.
• There are two bills scheduled to be heard that afternoon. The other bill (LD 2036) also involves the bottle redemption program. The committee may hear testimony for that bill first, so please be prepared to wait.

Finally, please forward this email to anyone you know who would also take action for lake funding.

Thank you for all you do for Maine’s lakes and for speaking up to support lake funding.

30 Mile River Watershed Association