Nah, we changed our minds: EPA restores $1.6M UMaine PFAS grant
Jun. 11—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reinstated a $1.6 million grant to the University of Maine to research and reduce the effect of forever chemicals on farms one month after canceling it for being inconsistent with EPA funding priorities.
In May, EPA spokesman Mike Bastasch justified the grant withdrawal like this: "Maybe the Biden-Harris administration shouldn't have forced their radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and 'environmental justice' preferencing on the EPA."
UMaine filed an appeal for wrongful grant termination on June 5. A day later, the EPA informed UMaine that it had reversed its position, and insisted that agency leaders had made that decision on June 4, the day before UMaine's appeal. The EPA gave no reason for its reversal.
But a week before it canceled the grant, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, during a committee hearing that these PFAS grants were important and implied they would continue after the agency reorganized under the Trump administration.
The EPA did not respond to questions about the grant reinstatement or the status of two other grants worth more than $3 million for other forever chemical research in Maine, ranging from developing rapid field testing to testing forever chemical levels in Wabanaki tribal waters and fish.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are manmade chemicals found in a broad range of common household products, like nonstick pans and makeup, that pose a public health risk to humans through prolonged exposure.
Even trace amounts of some PFAS can be dangerous to humans, with exposure to high levels of certain PFAS linked to serious health problems such as increased high blood pressure in pregnant women, developmental delays in children and increased risk of some cancers.
Researchers involved in Mi'kmaq Nation and Passamaquoddy grants were happy to hear UMaine's grant had been restored and were hopeful their appeals would lead to reinstatement of their awards, too. As of Wednesday, however, their grants remained canceled.
There is $1.45 million remaining on the restored award for UMaine to deliver "practical, science-based solutions" to reduce forever chemical contamination in livestock to produce safer food, a stronger farm economy and a healthier nation, according to a university statement.
The grant also funds hands-on research learning for at least 10 students as part of UMaine's mission to produce the next generation of agricultural problem solvers and take a lead role in the new field of researching and reducing the effects of forever chemicals on agriculture.
The EPA award will complement UMaine's new $500,000 state grant to research how forever chemicals move from soil into plants and livestock and eventually into the people who consume milk and dairy products. Both projects are led by UMaine professor Ellen Mallory.
As of Monday, the University of Maine System has had 16 awards restored that the federal government had previously terminated, mostly at UMaine, according to a university spokeswoman. The current balance remaining on those reversed awards is $3.5 million.
Over the last decade, Maine has spent more than $100 million as it became a national leader in the fight against harmful forever chemicals left behind by the state-permitted spreading of tainted sewage sludge on farm fields as a fertilizer.
State inspectors have identified 82 Maine farms and 500 residential properties contaminated by the harmful forever chemicals in the sludge during a $28.8 million investigation of 1,100 sites. The state projects that it will install 660 water filtration systems at private wells near sludge-spread fields.
So far, 20% of wells tested during the sludge investigation have exceeded Maine's drinking water standard. The Biden administration announced a stricter federal standard last year, but the Trump administration recently announced it planned to relax those standards and delay enactment.
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