PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 18, 2025
Maine is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for canceling a $9 million grant the state received last year for habitat restoration. The state alleges NOAA violated several federal laws in rescinding the funding in April. It claims NOAA pulled the funding as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to punish Maine for not banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. The grant funding was issued in August 2024 as part of NOAA’s Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience program. The grant was to be used as part of a project to restore tidal flow to help fish and lobster swim from the ocean into a salt marsh along the Pleasant River in Addison that was blocked in the 1940s.