Federal transportation authorities have rejected Maine’s request for $456 million to build a port to support a fledgling offshore wind power industry in the Gulf of Maine.
Maine’s proposal to fund the Searsport project was absent from a list of 44 grant awards released by the U.S. Department of Transportation through a $4.2 billion infrastructure program.
State Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note said in a statement the grant program was extremely competitive and Maine's application was ambitious.
“We believe the result is a reflection of the fiercely competitive nature of this program and that it does not reflect, or undermine, the widely-recognized need for this port, the strong merit of Maine’s plan, or the vast economic and environmental benefits associated with port development,” Van Note said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said its Multimodal Discretionary Grant Program, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, was over subscribed, with about 200 applications submitted totaling more than $27 billion in funding.
The state is still awaiting news on a $15 million federal planning grant for the port development.
Maine applied for the grant a few months after selecting undeveloped state land on Sears Island as the preferred location for the wind port. That decision has been met with opposition from local and state conservation groups, who argue an adjacent fuel and cargo terminal at Mack Point is a better choice.
State officials recently filed an analysis of alternative port locations. That report concluded Sears Island was still the best option in terms of cost, feasibility, environmental impact and other measures.
Maine DOT spokesperson Paul Merrill said it would be wrong to interpret the federal grant decision as a comment on the location of a port.
"Sears Island remains the best option for construction of a port for several economic, environmental, and logistical reasons, as recently reaffirmed by the alternatives analysis," Merrill said.
Despite getting passed over for funding this time, advocates for Maine's planned wind port said the project remains critical to its economic and climate goals.
"Today’s news has not changed the fact that we need a port to create good, union jobs, power our economy with affordable, clean homegrown energy, and protect our coasts and communities from the worst impacts of climate change," a coalition of labor and environmental groups including the Maine Labor Climate Council and Natural Resources Council of Maine said in a statement.
And Searsport Town Manager James Gillway said that while this round of funding could have propelled the wind port forward, the need for the development has not disappeared.
"I remain confident that this project will create food paying local jobs, lower taxes for our residents, and will attract families to help put kids in our schools," Gillway said.
Infrastructure upgrades selected for funding by the U.S. transportation department included a North Station and bridge replacement project in Boston, which received $472 million and a port terminal expansion in Philadelphia awarded $217 million.
Applications were evaluated on criteria including safety, economic impacts, freight movement, climate resilience, cost effectiveness and project readiness among other factors.
A federal transportation spokesperson declined to comment on the evaluation of Maine's proposal, but said state officials have an opportunity to receive a debrief from the department to review their application.
