Press Herald, King cite UMaine in stories, commentary on reviving forest products industry
A partnership between the University of Maine and a federal Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) is working to revive the state’s forest products industry, wrote U.S. Sen. Angus King in a Seacoast Online commentary, and the Portland Press Herald in a feature story and accompanying sidebar piece. In his commentary, King noted an EDAT report, released last month, outlining strategies for reviving the industry and the awarding of a $1.5 million federal grant to help support new forest products research and innovation at UMaine. As part of the effort, UMaine will work with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop biomaterials from the forest. The Press Herald notes the work between the university and the federal government in stories about ongoing efforts to turn shuttered biomass plants and paper mills into bioenergy parks, where trees could be used to make fuel, food, electricity and other products.