WHEREAS, the State of Maine has experienced a severe storm with heavy rains and unusually high winds causing widespread power outages, property damage, and road damage, including to many of the State’s federal-aid highways; and

WHEREAS, extensive road damage caused by high winds and flooding will require both immediate and on-going road repairs, constituting an emergency within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. §§ 120(e) and 125; and

WHEREAS, utility crews and other workers will need to work continuously to assess, stabilize, and repair damage to powerlines, clean up tree damage and other debris, and clear, stabilize, and rebuild roads; and

WHEREAS, temperatures below freezing are forecast throughout Maine in the coming days; and

WHEREAS, the widespread loss of power combined with road closures and winter weather conditions present a direct and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, pursuant to Me. Const. Art V, Pt 1, §§ 1 and 12, do hereby find that these conditions, including damage to Maine’s federal-aid highways, constitute a civil emergency, and therefore declare by this Proclamation under 37-B M.R.S. § 742(1)(A) a State of Emergency in the following counties: Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington. This Proclamation shall constitute the exemption recognized by federal law that will enable work crews to operate in Maine free from otherwise applicable hours of service limitations, provided that no motor carrier operating under this proclamation shall require or allow an ill or fatigued driver to operate a motor vehicle. A driver who notifies a motor carrier that such driver needs immediate rest shall be given at least ten (10) consecutive hours off-duty before returning to service. Drivers operating under this Proclamation shall carry a copy as evidence of their direct emergency service to the people of Maine. This Proclamation shall expire fourteen (14) days from its signature, unless otherwise terminated or extended.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta and dated this nineteenth day of December, Two Thousand Twenty-Three.