2022 Legislative Victories

It was a busy second session of the 130th Maine legislature! Defend worked hard with our friends in the legislature to move policy that will help protect Mainers from exposure to toxic chemicals. We had an incredibly successful session, passing first-in-the-nation legislation banning sludge spreading, advocating for protections for our tribal neighbors, and working to…  Read more »

2022 Priority Bills

PFAS Bills: LD 1911 “An Act To Prohibit the Contamination of Clean Soils with So-called Forever Chemicals.” This bill would ban the spreading of sludge and sludge-derived compost on farmland that contributes to PFAS contamination. It would also require that wastewater treatment facilities and other industry that discharge effluent into Maine’s waterways test that effluent for…  Read more »

Colby College Professor Calls For Federal Action on PFAS

This week, Dr. Véronique Plesch, a professor at Colby College and resident of Fairfield, Maine, shared her experience with PFAS contamination in the Portland Press Herald.  Dr. Plesch is one of many Maine residents who have been affected by Maine’s “PFAS contamination crisis,” as she called it. After requesting a testing kit, Plesch discovered that the amount…  Read more »