MAINE MORNING STAR • February 7, 2025
Thanks to a $60 million allocation in the 2021 state budget, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has developed a program to assist farmers and respond to high levels of PFAS in agricultural land. In the years since, the department has made significant progress on those efforts and learned that most contaminated farms can remain viable with the proper support, said Beth Valentine, director of the department’s PFAS Fund. LD 130 would enshrine in statute Maine’s existing response program for PFAS contamination on farmland, which has been touted as a national leader. The PFAS Response program currently has seven full-time staff members who provide technical and financial assistance to more than 80 farms with varying levels of contamination.