PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 5, 2025
Maine is the first state in the country to buy out a farmer driven off his land by forever chemicals. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spent $333,000 from the state’s $60 million forever chemical relief fund to buy a secluded 24-acre hay field and 83 acres of forest in Palermo, according to state officials and county land records. “It’s bittersweet,” said Beth Valentine, the director of the state’s Fund to Address PFAS Contamination. “I’m glad we’ve closed on our first property so other landowners can see that this is a potential option if they want to move off the land, but I also recognize it was very hard for this landowner.”