AUGUSTA (AP) — Lawmakers are preparing measures that would tighten oversight of the state Department of Environmental Protection following allegations last summer of failure to adequately implement or enforce certain environmental laws.

However, given a lack of evidence, lawmakers are unlikely to order an investigation of the past activities of Commissioner Patricia Aho.

Assistant House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe tells the Portland Press Herald legislators will consider measures that would put the department under greater scrutiny, with its conduct in the long-term relicensing of dams and the introduction of new “routine” rules and regulations receiving special attention.

The newspaper previously reported that Aho had stifled laws and programs she had been paid to defeat in her previous career as a lobbyist for the oil, chemical, waste management, and development industries.

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