After hailing them as important, EPA cancels PFAS research grants

By Penelope Overton | The Portland Herald Press | May 23, 2025

Read the full article by Penelope Overton (The Portland Herald Press)

"Despite hailing them as important, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled $15 million in grants to research and reduce the effect of forever chemicals on farms, including almost $5 million in local research projects to the University of Maine, the Mi’kmaq Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe. “These funds were congressionally approved and appropriated, and they cannot be terminated in this way,” said Chelli Stanley of Upland Roots, a group working on the Mi’kmaq Nation grant. “It is unconstitutional.” Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins assured Maine Senator Susan Collins that $17 million the agency had awarded to the Agriculture Research Service and UMaine to establish a new PFAS research lab was still intact."