U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has secured substantial funding for Maine in the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill passed the Senate today after receiving approval from the House of Representatives last week and is now awaiting the President’s signature.
“This legislation will provide important investments in Maine’s public lands, national parks, and tribal programs. It will promote healthy and resilient communities by supporting critical infrastructure that would help to provide clean drinking water and mitigate increasing flood risks,” said Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee.
The act allocates nearly $68 million for Congressionally Directed Spending projects within Maine. It provides $10 million for the U.S. Forest Service to assist states with an emerging spruce budworm outbreak near the northeastern border; last year, Senator Collins had secured $14 million for similar efforts.
A provision in the bill recognizes biomass as carbon neutral across all federal agencies. For brownfields remediation, there is a total of $170 million—broken down into $25.7 million for Brownfields Projects Grants, $98 million for Infrastructure Assistance Grants, and $46.3 million for Categorical Grants.
The National Park Service’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Program receives $5.6 million, including increased support for the York River Wild and Scenic River Program with its total rising to $300,000.
Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) and Drinking Water SRF are funded at $2.8 billion collectively. The Community Wood Energy Program is allotted $15 million to support wood energy systems installation and wood product manufacturing facilities.
For PFAS cleanup assistance in state drinking water programs, EPA’s Public Water System Supervision categorical grant program will receive $117 million.
National Wildlife Refuge System staffing is supported with $522 million; accompanying report language encourages filling vacant positions in Maine refuges.
The Rural Water Technical Assistance Grant Program is funded at $30.7 million—of which $26 million supports technical assistance under the Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act—and report language maintains competitive funding distribution.
$6 million goes to the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC), a collaborative research effort among universities in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York focused on sustaining northern forest ecosystems and communities as well as advancing forest products development and biodiversity management.
The National Estuary Program (NEP) receives a total of $40 million; this includes support for groups like Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and Piscataqua Region Estuaries that are NEP members.
Lastly, the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program gets an allocation of $5.5 million to help tribes, local governments, and nonprofits purchase forestlands for conversion into community forests.
