Congress Approves $17 Million for UMaine PFAS Center of Excellence Secured by Senator Collins
The funding now heads to the President to be signed into law
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she secured $17 million to establish a PFAS Center of Excellence at the New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Agriculture appropriations bill. The funding, which was included in legislation that passed the Senate today, now heads to the President to be signed into law.
“The University of Maine has been at the forefront of efforts to identify and address PFAS contamination, which are known to be harmful to the livelihoods of Maine’s farmers, as well as our water and food supplies,” said Senator Collins. “This funding will support UMaine’s research on ways to better deter PFAS, its movement in soil, predict exposure, and mitigate impacts.”
“Establishing a federal PFAS Center of Excellence at our flagship campus in Orono that has hosted a USDA-ARS plant, soil and water laboratory since the 1970s leverages the leadership and the long-standing collaboration among UMaine, USDA-ARS and Maine’s agriculture community,” said University of Maine President and University of Maine System Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “We are grateful to Senator Collins for securing past federal investment to expand our capacity to deliver PFAS-related research and technical assistance.”
This funding will support the modernization, renovation, and expansion of existing facilities at the New England Plant, Soil, and Water Laboratory — located on the University of Maine’s Orono campus — to support the creation of a PFAS Center of Excellence. Funding will support research to address PFAS contamination across agricultural industries. This includes research that supports short-term farm management decisions and assesses future options for viable uses of contaminated land.
This funding builds on the $8 million secured by Senator Collins in the FY2023 appropriations cycle to support the University of Maine’s efforts to address PFAS contamination.
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