Lori Trahan delivers more funding to 3rd District projects

LOWELL — U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan was back in Lowell on Tuesday to deliver more federal funding to programs improving the lives of residents in the 3rd Congressional District and beyond. The congresswoman visited the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell to announce nearly $1.2 million in federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to the independent state agency.

“TURI has been doing incredible work to keep families and communities safe from pollution and toxic chemicals, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to deliver this federal investment to maximize the impact of their efforts,” Trahan said.

The funding from the EPA’s Pollution Prevention Grant program will support TURI’s efforts to help manufacturers, retailers and independent workers adopt safer pipe cement, primer and paint removal products.

The goal of the project is to minimize the use of toxics in painting and plumbing products, reduce pollution from manufacturing activities and significantly decrease health risks to workers and consumers. TURI will soon begin working with 19 manufacturing companies in communities across the country.

Trahan was joined by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator David Cash and state Rep. Rodney Elliott, who previously served at the EPA for over 25 years.

“TURI has played a vital role in eliminating many toxic substances in scores of household products,” Elliott said by text on Tuesday. “With this funding from the EPA, TURI will continue to provide assistance to manufacturers, to remove dangerous chemicals and develop products that are environmentally safe, affordable and will protect the health and wellbeing of all of us.”

The visit comes on the heels of Trahan’s other investments in 3rd District communities as she barnstormed her way through Lowell, Billerica and Fitchburg last week.

She started off in Fitchburg, where she toured the Simonds-Sinon Regional Cancer Center at HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital’s Fitchburg Campus. A new 3D mammography system was recently installed thanks to $450,000 Trahan secured in federal funding to enable the acquisition and installation of a digital breast tomosynthesis to replace an aging full-field digital mammography system.


On Thursday, she celebrated the announcement of Draper Laboratory as an anchor tenant in UMass Lowell’s Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project, an $800 million public-private partnership that will bring jobs and investments to the city.

“We’ve secured unprecedented federal, state and private sector funding to position the Mill City for a multibillion-dollar economic and jobs boom over the next 10 years,” Trahan told a packed room that included Gov. Maura Healey and Draper President and CEO Jerry Wohletz.

“Much of that will be anchored in the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor, which will be home to cutting-edge businesses like Draper, leading R&D initiatives, and hundreds of housing units,” Trahan said.

Later that day, Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and the administration’s economic and energy leaders were present in Billerica as Trahan announced a $30 million federal investment in Nuvera Fuel Cells, which is ramping up production of its clean hydrogen fuel-cell technology.

Trahan called the clean-energy technology “impressive” and “groundbreaking.”

Following Tuesday’s visit to TURI, Trahan hosted an evening ceremony in Dracut to celebrate military service academy nominees and their families. Trahan nominated 19 students, including Joyce Philippe, of the Greater Lowell Technical High School. The Lowell resident is the first GLTHS student accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that was founded in 1802.

The 19 students were nominated from across the 3rd District to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

The event included remarks from Trahan and special guests, Dracut Town Manager Ann Vandal and Dracut Historical Society President Kent Varnum.

Spokesperson Francis Grubar said Trahan is making the most of her opportunities to be out in the 3rd District’s 35 communities in Essex, Middlesex and Worcester counties, before she returns to Washington, D.C. for almost all of April and May to prepare for next year’s funding cycle.

“The House turns its attention to funding packages for fiscal year 2025,” Grubar said by text. “These bills are how she has secured funding in the past for many local projects, including LINC, Cawley Stadium, LRTA, Community Teamwork, and other local organizations doing important work in Lowell and across the district.”