U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GRANTS FORT KENT MORE THAN $328,000 TO COMBAT TEEN DRUNK DRIVING
U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will award Aroostook County Action Program
a grant in the amount of $328,288. This funding, which is provided from the agency’s Limiting Teens Access to Alcohol Program, will be used to fund a 20-month pilot project between the community and NHTSA that aims to curtail incidences of teenage drunk driving.
In June, Senator Collins wrote to NHTSA after the agency denied the original grant application. According to an email sent by the contractor that rendered the decision to deny the grant, the funds were declined because Fort Kent is “WAAAAAAYY off the beaten path,” a comment that angered many people including Senators Collins and Olympia Snowe. Senator Collins wrote to NHTSA and requested that it look into the agency’s earlier decision to deny the grant. NHTSA Administrator David Strickland responded and told Senator Collins the agency was “committed to finding additional funding to ensure that all qualified applicants are included in the pilot demonstration.”
“I welcome today’s decision to award this grant. This funding will help support an important program that examines ways to put a stop to teenage drunk driving—an enormous concern in Maine and throughout that nation—and the Fort Kent program that will undertake this work is immensely qualified for this endeavor,” said Senator Collins.
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a grant in the amount of $328,288. This funding, which is provided from the agency’s Limiting Teens Access to Alcohol Program, will be used to fund a 20-month pilot project between the community and NHTSA that aims to curtail incidences of teenage drunk driving.
In June, Senator Collins wrote to NHTSA after the agency denied the original grant application. According to an email sent by the contractor that rendered the decision to deny the grant, the funds were declined because Fort Kent is “WAAAAAAYY off the beaten path,” a comment that angered many people including Senators Collins and Olympia Snowe. Senator Collins wrote to NHTSA and requested that it look into the agency’s earlier decision to deny the grant. NHTSA Administrator David Strickland responded and told Senator Collins the agency was “committed to finding additional funding to ensure that all qualified applicants are included in the pilot demonstration.”
“I welcome today’s decision to award this grant. This funding will help support an important program that examines ways to put a stop to teenage drunk driving—an enormous concern in Maine and throughout that nation—and the Fort Kent program that will undertake this work is immensely qualified for this endeavor,” said Senator Collins.
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