PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2023
A bill introduced by Rep. Wayne Parry, R-Arundel, would require the state to offer to buy farms contaminated by PFAS left behind by its decades-long sludge-spreading program at a fair market value price. The bill directs the state to value the land as if it were not contaminated and sets a minimum price per acre of no less than $20,000, a number Parry said was based on what it would cost Stone to buy another property suitable for dairy farming. The bill met with a lukewarm response from the state as well as some lawmakers and farming advocates who have actively lobbied for state assistance to farmers hurt by forever chemicals. Some questioned the $20,000 dollar-per-acre minimum included in the bill, either saying it was too high or shouldn’t be written into state statute, while others urged lawmakers to wait until an advisory committee had decided how best to distribute a $60 million PFAS emergency relief fund.