BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 28, 2022
It was disheartening to hear Gov. Janet Mills has signed the misguided public law, known as LD 1911. Its title alone — An Act To Prevent the Further Contamination of the Soils and Waters of the State with So-called Forever Chemicals — made it hard to vote against. However, I believe the passage of LD 1911 is a knee jerk reaction to the sad and serious situation in Maine as a result of industrially contaminated biosolids applied to soils decades ago. The legislation is not based on current science or a risk assessment and inexplicitly exempts other materials that contain PFAS in similar concentrations to today’s biosolids. With landfilling as the only in-state option for managing biosolids and septage waste, Maine is headed down an unsustainable road. ~ Janine Burke-Wells, North East Biosolids & Residuals Association, Rhode Island