BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 1, 2022
A widening catch-up effort to fight “forever chemicals” is developing into one of the biggest problems facing Maine on several fronts. Maine may have to spend up to $20 million per year just to remediate the toxic chemicals being widely found in agricultural land and water supplies across the state, top state officials told lawmakers on Tuesday. That total does not include any relief to those whose health and livelihoods are being harmed by them. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has begun to run into resistance from some landowners who do not want their land tested, but it is becoming clear that there will be wide effects on the state’s economy and even its culture.