U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree are demanding the Trump administration immediately undo its “ill-advised decision” to abruptly end support for the Maine Sea Grant program.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dated March 5, King and Pingree defended Maine Sea Grant as an “invaluable resource” for supporting the state’s coastal economy.
For every federal dollar invested, it generates $15 in economic activity, adding up to $23.5 million annually, they wrote. Maine Sea Grant, which started in 1971, supported more than 300 businesses and more than 560 jobs in 2023.
“These activities not only contribute to the state’s economy but are essential in helping Maine’s coastal communities remain resilient in the face of ongoing challenges,” the independent senator and Democratic representative wrote.
On Feb. 28, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed the University of Maine that the agency was immediately terminating the current $4.5 million four-year grant, which was entering its second year.
More than 30 states, Puerto Rico and Guam participate in the national Sea Grant program. No one Sea Grant program has seen its funding cut.
The decision to terminate federal support for Maine Sea Grant comes days after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills got into a heated exchange with President Donald Trump at a White House event over the state’s inclusive policy toward transgender athletes. Trump has been pressuring Maine and two other states to ban transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports, saying they are violating a February executive order and threatening to withhold federal funds. Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Mills threatening to take Maine to court.
“NOAA’s justification for this decision — claiming that Maine Sea Grant’s work is ‘is no longer relevant to the focus of the Administration’s priorities and program objectives’—is both perplexing and deeply troubling,” King and Pingree wrote, saying the state appears to have been “unfairly singled out.”
