{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-delivers-750000-for-university-of-maine-sawing-operations-training-facility", "Golden Delivers $750,000 for University of Maine Sawing Operations Training Facility", "2022-12-23", "2022", "2022-12", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Jared F. Golden", "G000592", "golden.house.gov", "golden", "https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 In a significant win for the next generation of Maine loggers, Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) announced today that he has secured $750,000 in dedicated funding as part of the 2023 appropriations government funding package for the University of Maine School of Forest Resources. The funding, which passed the Senate yesterday and is expected to head to the president\u2019s desk for his signature this week, will be used to construct a sawmill operations training facility at the Dwight B. Demeritt Forest, just north of the University of Maine campus.\n\n\u201cThis federal funding will expand the sawmill operations facility to serve hundreds of Mainers every year with a new building and equipment,\u201d said Congressman Golden. \u201cAs I\u2019ve heard consistently in meetings with loggers across the state, providing quality training on the latest logging technology and equipment is essential for the future of the forest products industry in Maine. I\u2019m proud to partner with the forest products industry and the University of Maine to secure this funding for the next generation of Maine loggers.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy 2030, one-quarter of Maine\u2019s current forest products workforce will reach retirement age,\u201d said Keith Kanoti, manager of the University of Maine Forest. \u201cAs this industry innovates for the future through technology and processes that add value to our timber, thefederal funding secured by Rep. Golden with the support of Sens. Collins and King will allow the university to better prepare the next generation of skilled forest resource professionals who are necessary to maintain and grow Maine\u2019s leading role in the global forest economy.\u201d\n\nThe new sawmill operations training facility project will provide hands-on workforce development training and professional development of Maine\u2019s forest products industry. The congressman\u2019s funding will help build this new facility where at least 200 students and forest professionals would train each year in support of in-demand industry workforce needs.\n\nForestry is one of Maine\u2019s oldest and largest industries, contributing over $8 billion and 31,000 jobs to the Maine economy each year. To support this important Maine industry, the University of Maine School of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture runs the oldest continuously accredited professional forestry program in the United States.\n\nThe request on behalf of the University of Maine was one of the congressman\u2019sCommunity Project Funding requests. Congressman Golden was the only member of the delegation whose request for funding was included in the year-end omnibus spending bill.\n\nGolden met with university officials, manufacturing and forest products experts, and students for a tour of the sawmill site in August.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:32:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-delivers-750000-for-university-of-maine-sawing-operations-training-facility"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9731249883770943, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}