The state recently appointed a South Portland attorney to lead efforts to provide relief to Maine farmers affected by the chemicals known as PFAS.

Elizabeth Fuller Valentine, who has worked with the firm Jackson and MacNichol and with the Maine Community Law Center in Portland, is the state’s new PFAS Fund Director, the state announced Wednesday. 

Valentine will lead a new committee that will direct $60 million to farmers with costs associated with PFAS contamination.

Those costs may include direct support for lost income or equipment for remediation strategies, medical testing and monitoring for farmers and their families and research that could identify soil and water remediation systems.

Gov. Janet Mills also announced that 15 people will serve on an advisory committee.

“Maine is on the leading edge of the nationwide PFAS contamination crisis,” Rep. Jessica Fay (D-Raymond), a committee co-chair, said in a statement. “A big part of that must be addressing farmer needs.”

PFAS has been found in sludge spread on some farms in Maine and in drinking water.

Exposure to high levels of PFAS — known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment — can lead to increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney and testicular and may lead to developmental delays in children, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.