Coastal Enterprises Inc. received $125 million in federal money for its New Markets Tax Credit Program to fund economic development in rural communities, the second year in a row the Wiscasset-based economic development nonprofit received the highest allocation of New Markets money in the country.

Through its subsidiary, CEI Capital Management LLC, CEI will use the money to attract private capital investment for primarily rural economic development projects. To date, the New Markets program has funded major projects in Grand Lake Stream Plantation, the Millinocket region, Presque Isle and Portland, according to a release from the U.S. Treasury Department. The award brings CEI to $606 million in New Markets allocations, of which approximately $334 million has already been placed, with over 70% of that amount directed to projects in rural communities.

Ron Phillips, president of CEI, noted in the release that many of the New Markets projects create and sustain jobs, reduce energy costs and/or rely on renewable sources of energy. "This represents," said Phillips, "the triple bottom line of economic impact, social gains in meaningful jobs, and care for the environment."