Senators Collins, King Announce More Than $6 Million for Targeted Economic Development Projects in Maine

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Angus King announced that 10 state and local agencies and organizations throughout Maine have been awarded a total of $6,121,792 through the Northern Border Regional Commission's (NBRC) Catalyst Program and Forest Economy Program. This funding will support projects aimed at strengthening economic opportunity in communities across five Maine counties.

"From replacing aging infrastructure to expanding child care availability and resources for business development, these targeted investments will strengthen the local economies of numerous communities in Maine," said Senators Collins and King. "We are proud to support the NBRC, which continues to play a vital role in creating jobs, expanding economic opportunities, and laying a strong foundation for long-term growth across our state."

Specifically, the funding is allocated as follows:

• Dover-Foxcroft Water District (Piscataquis County) - $1,000,000: To replace and relocate the Dover-Foxcroft water main, which is approximately 100 years old and does not reach a developing commercial area of the town.

• Danforth Water District (Washington County) - $1,000,000: To replace a 4,500-foot failing and unlined iron water main serving households and businesses throughout downtown Danforth.

• Town of Greenville (Piscataquis County) - $1,000,000: To construct a new childcare center on the Greenville Consolidated School campus that will provide more than 30 additional childcare slots.

• Loring Development Authority of Maine (Aroostook County) - $1,000,000: To construct an anaerobic digester to produce biofuel from organic material, while enhancing the development of the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone.

• Maine TREE Foundation (Kennebec County) - $998,925: To scale the Maine TREE Foundation's six-week summer Forestry Immersion Program for Maine high school students.

• City of Bangor (Penobscot County) - $500,000: To support the Central Kitchen, a shared-use commercial kitchen incubator for start-up businesses to prepare, package, and market local food products.

• Passamaquoddy Tribe (Washington County) - $250,000: To rehabilitate the Eastern Surplus Superfund Site and the Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative site, and restore and rewild N'tolonapemk, an ancestral Passamaquoddy village on the shores of Meddybemps Lake through improvements to fish passage and re-establishment of an alewife run at Meddybemps Lake.

• City of Presque Isle (Aroostook County) - $240,000: To upgrade the commercial kitchen at The Forum-a year-round, multi-use building-to allow the city to expand the number and types of events possible at the venue.

• City of Augusta (Kennebec County) - $82,867: To renovate the HVAC system at the Buker Community Center's Child Care Center, allowing the Center to avoid scaling back their hours of operation due to extreme weather conditions.

• RSU 38 (Kennebec County) - $50,000: To develop a driving range for commercial driver licensing, decreasing the training cycle from four months to three.

The NBRC was established by Congress in 2008, with Senator Collins' and King's support, to fund a broad range of development projects in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York aimed at alleviating economic distress and encouraging private sector job creation.

Senators Collins and King were instrumental in establishing the Forest Opportunity Roadmap (FOR/Maine) Initiative, an industry-led initiative that is helping to diversify the state's wood products businesses, attract investments, and develop greater economic prosperity for rural communities impacted by mill closures. The FOR/Maine Initiative was funded in part by the Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) requested by the Senators in 2016 in order to create strategies for job growth and economic development in Maine's rural communities. The EDAT recommended the development of new markets for Maine's forest resources, including the strengthening of existing forest products manufacturing, the attraction of investment in emerging technology, and the utilization of forest products residuals in CHP biomass plants, microgrids, modern thermal systems, and new forest products development.

In 2023, Senator Collins introduced and Senator King co-sponsored a bill to reauthorize and strengthen the NBRC.

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