Press Releases

House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today announced the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations bill will include nearly $4.5 million in Community Project Funding to support two water infrastructure projects in Maine’s First District. In total, the Subcommittee-passed bill includes $44.8 billion in regular appropriations, an increase of $6.8 billion – 18 percent – above the FY 2022 enacted level.

Watch Chair Pingree’s opening remarks to the subcommittee here.

Pingree’s two projects for Maine included in the Interior Subcommittee funding bill are:

• Town of Limerick Drinking Water Project: $1,000,000 to replace water and sewer mains on the following Wescott, Maple, and Prospect Streets

• City of Saco Clean Water Project: $3,452,978 for the Headworks Phase of the Saco Water Resource Resiliency Project, which will make the headworks resilient to effects of sea level rise, intensifying wet weather events, and climate change impacts. Headworks is the first step of wastewater treatment. It accepts all the flow from the city and distributes it to the next steps of wastewater treatment. As such, the headworks is one of the most critical aspects of the water resource recovery facility. The current headworks does not meet TR-16 Guidelines for wastewater treatment works design. To address this and other indicated concerns, Saco plans to construct this new headworks at an elevation that accounts for additional sea level rise. The new headworks will include new headworks building and associated equipment, such as influent screening and wash press system, grit removal system, and flow metering.

“I’m incredibly proud that in my first year as Chair, we were able to make unprecedented investments to fight the climate crisis, return science as the foundation for decision-making, dedicate the highest level of federal funding to the arts and humanities ever, and continue our commitment to tribal nations. I have been fighting to build on those successes in the 2023 funding bill, and I’m thrilled so far funding for two of projects for Maine’s First District have been included in our draft bill,” Chair Pingree said. “Funding for community projects like these enable Members of Congress to directly fund projects that enrich our communities, and as we take on the challenges a warming climate brings, making our communities more resilient has never been more important.”

Background

Each year, the United States Congress considers and enacts annual appropriations bills that provide the federal government with the funding it needs to operate.

In 2021, the House Appropriations Committee revitalized Community Project Funding after the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress found that congressionally-directed spending boosted bipartisanship, facilitated member-to-member cooperation, and gave members an equal stake in the success of appropriations bills.

Pingree secured millions of dollars in federal funding for 10 community projects in Maine’s First District for the 2022 Fiscal Year. 

For the 2023 Fiscal Year, each member is permitted to submit 15 projects for consideration which all must be thoroughly vetted and publicly disclosed on their website.

Pingree has been a member of the House Appropriations Committee since 2013 and has served as Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies since January 2021. 

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