Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine
By Emmett Gartner
A University of Maine initiative exploring ways to bring renewable energy to Indigenous and rural communities was gaining momentum this spring when the Trump administration abruptly cancelled its $1 million federal grant.
The Environmental Protection Agency award is one of dozens of federal grants to Maine research institutions that have been cancelled or paused as the Trump administration cracks down on what it sees as wasteful spending. This includes cuts targeting environmental justice initiatives and climate change research.
The UMaine project, which was in its second year of a Science to Achieve Results award, had pulled together more than 100 people from the Wabanaki Nations and rural communities throughout Maine to discuss local renewable energy goals and pathways to reach them.
Over $900,000 of the award was unused at the time of the cancellation, according to project lead and University of Maine professor Sharon Klein.
“We’ve been really smart with our money,” Klein said. “It was definitely a big blow to get the termination because we felt like we were… kind of just hitting our stride.”
The grant was briefly reinstated on June 5 — only to be revoked again four days later.
“There was no explanation for anything,” Klein said. “You just get these emails. So they’re like, ‘It’s terminated,’ ‘Nope, it’s back,’ ‘Nope, it’s terminated again.’”
Article continues at https://themainemonitor.org/environmental-researchers-grapple-funding-changes/
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Willem Post
If these projects are really important, why is the State of Maine wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on thousands of unskilled, uneducated, inexperienced, walk-ins from the crime-prone ghettos of Third World countries?
Why not have ICE round them up, give them a $1000, plus free plane ticket, and send them back to where they came from? Just tell them the freebie gig is up.
Floating Offshore wind will never be built in Maine. No bank will finance it, no insurance company will insure it, especially after federal subsidies have evaporated.
Start cutting any state activities related to it, including highly subsidized Ventis of UMain
Use the saved money to promote fisheries, tourism, and energy efficient housing
on Monday