Maine is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for canceling a $9 million grant for a salt marsh restoration project in Downeast Maine.

The lawsuit claims the state is being singled out for funding cuts because financing has not been terminated for at least 17 other salt marsh restoration projects under the same federal grant program.

The suit suggests the funding cut is a punishment for the state’s ongoing dispute with the Trump administration over its policy allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“The backdrop for NOAA’s otherwise inexplicable decision is the State of Maine’s ongoing dispute with the Trump Administration over Title IX of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 and the participation of transgender girls and women on girls’ and women’s teams in school athletic programs,” the lawsuit states.

It claims the agency is breaking the law and the 10th Amendment because it does not have the authority to terminate a grant over an unrelated issue.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the federal district court of Maine by the state Department of Marine Resources.

The $9 million grant was awarded in August of 2024 to elevate a road in Addison to prevent flooding and to add a culvert for fish and lobster to swim from the ocean to a salt marsh in the Pleasant River.

The lawsuit seeks to have the grant funding restored.