A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill including $20 million for a “forever chemicals” research center at the University of Maine in an initial step toward passage as the need for aid across the agriculture industry continues to grow.
Few details about the facility, to be known as the PFAS Center of Excellence, were available Thursday, but Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the appropriations committee, said funding will support the university’s research on “ways to better deter PFAS, its movement in soil, predict exposure and mitigate impacts.”
The “forever chemicals” are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, found in water and land around Maine, and research has linked them to health problems such as liver disease, decreased infant and fetal growth and high cholesterol. PFAS are considered “forever” because they build up in people’s bodies and the environment over time and break down slowly.
Maine is leading the nation in its response to the PFAS crisis. A facility dedicated to researching the toxic compounds hopefully means more answers are coming for farmers and other agricultural workers whose livelihoods are threatened by the toxic sludge that was once spread on their land. The state is still working to understand the scope of contamination and how to address it.
The legislation will next head to the Senate and House of Representatives. There are many questions about how federal spending will work between the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House. Collins criticized defense spending limits in a recent debt ceiling compromise between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and President Joe Biden.
If the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service secures funding, $10 million will be used to renovate and expand facilities at the New England Plant, Soil and Water Laboratory at the university’s Orono campus, a university spokesperson said. The other $10 million will be used for research and programming.
Research will address PFAS contamination across agricultural industries. That includes work that supports short-term farm management decisions and studying viable uses of contaminated land, according to a statement from Collins’ office.
UMaine has hosted a USDA laboratory since the 1970s. The USDA leases the land on which its facility was built from the university.
As the state’s land grant research institution, UMaine has a responsibility to further understand and shape sustainable solutions related to PFAS, University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said.
“We look forward to partnering with our colleagues at USDA-ARS to manage and mitigate PFAS for the health and well-being of our people and natural resource economy,” she said.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act also includes $50 million for 27 congressionally directed spending projects in Maine and maintains funding for federal potato research programs.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.