The Maine Legislature kicked many major funding decisions down the road during the first half of the 132nd legislative session, bills related to the environment included. 

Conservation groups and legislators alike are looking to take another bite of the apple on several $50-million bond issues and settle emerging issues with wastewater sludge at the state-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town when lawmakers convene again this month.

As in 2025, the mitigation of “forever chemicals” is at the forefront of many 2026 legislative proposals, along with support for the wastewater treatment facilities that confront them daily. 

Several forestry industry advocates are also hoping that the Legislature affirms its support of Maine loggers and provides them financial relief amid challenging market conditions.

Conservation and infrastructure funding 

— L.D. 362: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Replenish the Land for Maine’s Future Program

Lead sponsor Sen. Russell Black (R-Wilton) is proposing a $50 million bond to replenish Maine’s conservation program and help purchase high-value agricultural land, critical wildlife habitat and public access points to Maine’s coast.

Without this bond, Maine will lose even more land to development, taking the state’s dwindling rural workforce of farmers along with it, Black wrote in legislative testimony.

“As a farmer and a fiscal conservative, I believe we should only spend taxpayer dollars when it’s absolutely necessary and when it delivers real, lasting value — and protecting Maine’s farmland does just that,” Black said.

— L.D. 836: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Upgrade Municipal Culverts at Stream Crossings

Another bill — this time from Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) — would dedicate a $50 million bond to Maine municipalities looking to replace or expand their aging, undersized culverts that channel water under or around roads. 

Culverts can be an achilles heel for municipalities facing heavy rainstorms and floods. Roads blow out when they’re overwhelmed and undermined, stranding residents trying to evacuate. Improving culverts would both mitigate flood risks and help aquatic wildlife travel from stream to stream, Daughtry wrote in testimony.

— L.D. 25: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Fund Wastewater Treatment Facility Planning and Construction of Infrastructure Projects

Another $50 million bond measure from Sen. Stacy Brenner (D-Scarborough) is for municipal and quasi-municipal wastewater treatment plants to purchase equipment that would help reduce the amount of wastewater sludge or biosolids they produce.

This is the scum that gets filtered out during wastewater treatment and often contains forever chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Maine municipalities often truck that waste to landfills such as Juniper Ridge in Old Town for burial and disposal.

“This will save landfill space, reduce the volume and weight of sludge when it is transported … and will make sludge easier to handle,” wrote Melanie Loyzim, commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. 

— L.D. 1904: An Act to Establish the Municipal Shoreline Protection Legal Fund

This bill from Sen. Senator Tim Nangle (D-Windham) has a smaller price tag — a minimum of $100,000 — and would build on Nangle’s prior legislation to help municipalities hold developers responsible for damage to fragile shoreline habitat.

The fund would help municipalities pay for legal action against violators of shoreline zoning restrictions and would be reimbursed if the municipalities win in court.

Climate priorities

— L.D. 1870: An Act to Establish a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to Impose Penalties on Climate Polluters

This bill from lead sponsor Brenner would charge fossil fuel companies operating during a certain timespan and emitting a certain amount of greenhouse gases for some costs of Maine climate adaptation projects. It prompted more than 100 letters of testimony when it was introduced last May and has been carried over into the second half of the legislative session.

Other Democratic-led states have introduced similar “climate superfund” bills — 11 total, according to Grist — but only New York and Vermont have been successful. They’ve been mired in legal challenges ever since.

Forest products industry relief

— L.D. 1313: An Act to Promote Equity in the Forest Products Industry by Allowing Commercial Wood Haulers to Be Eligible for Certain Sales Tax Exemptions and Refunds

Spearheaded by Sen. Brad Farrin (R-Norridgewock), L.D. 1313 would provide relief for one link in the forest products industry’s broader supply chain: a sales tax refund or exemption on the purchase of logging equipment and vehicles, from semitrucks to the long-armed machines that cut and haul timber. It would result in an estimated loss in tax revenue to the state of $269,000 in fiscal year 2026-2027, with slightly increasing losses in the years after.

“It’s on the special appropriations table, and, honestly, that one has such a painfully small fiscal note, it would be great if we could get that one to move,” Krysta West, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, told The Maine Monitor.

Maine’s multi-billion dollar forest products industry has been hit by inflation, falling market prices for certain timber products, tariffs on logging equipment and an overall decline in manufacturing. 

— L.D. 798: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Fund Mass Timber Manufacturing

L.D. 798 proposes another $50 million bond that would boost the manufacturing side of Maine’s forest products sector. The bill from Rep. Samuel Lewis Zager (D-Portland) would finance the creation or retrofitting of manufacturing equipment that produces refined timber products such as wood paneling and construction materials.

‘Forever chemicals’ and drinking water

— L.D. 1696: Resolve, to Study Maine’s Absolute Dominion and Beneficial Use Laws Relating to Water Rights

Recurring drought over the past five years has prompted concern about the health of Maine’s aquifers and underwater reserves, especially in relation to the impact of large-scale water extractors such as Poland Spring.

Lead sponsor Rep. Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach) told attendees of a Maine Conservation Voters meeting last week that she hopes this bill will study how other states are regulating their water and create actionable policy proposals for Maine.

“We need to really have an examination of what our legal framework is for water,” Gramlich said.

— L.D. 1177: Resolve, to Study the Public Health and Environmental Risks from Synthetic Turf

A second study proposal from Gramlich directs the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to study the health impacts of synthetic or artificial turf on humans, with specific concern about their use of forever chemicals.

The bill needs $100,000 in funding. Gramlich said she was working with state officials to try to lower that price tag.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.