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Rising To The Challenge: Managed Retreat And The Taking Clause In Maine's Climate Change Era, Maye C. Emlein

Maine Law Review

It is a near scientific certainty that sea levels will rise between one and eight feet by the end of the century. This will wreak havoc on our infrastructure, ecology, and public health, and cause an unquantifiable amount of economic damage. Given the inevitability of sea level rise, state and local governments must facilitate the managed retreat of people and property away from vulnerable coastal areas. However, governments’ ability to facilitate managed retreat comes head-to-head with the Takings Clauses of the United States and Maine Constitutions, which state that the government may not take private property without paying just compensation. …