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Maine lawmakers ask the Navy for help after massive toxic foam spill
Local News
The incident is the largest spill of its kind in Maine’s history and the sixth largest in the country in the last 30 years, a group of lawmakers said.
Leaders in Maine are asking for help after thousands of gallons of toxic firefighting foam spilled from a Brunswick airport’s fire suppression system owned by the Navy last month.
A system malfunction at Brunswick Landing airport released 1,450 gallons of firefighting foam mixed with 50,000 gallons of water on Aug. 19.
The foam, known as aqueous film-forming foam or AFFF, contains PFAS, which are toxic, cancer-causing “forever chemicals.” Samples from the foam leaked at the airport classified as hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency, officials said.
Melanie Loyzim, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said at a press conference last month that the foam “made its way into the sewer system with some overflowing into the storm water system.”
The department said the public drinking water was not affected by the foam last week, but residents are told to say away from the foam.
“The areas surrounding the hangar have been cleaned, assessed, and are safe to be walked and driven on,” according to the Town of Brunswick’s website. “The affected stormwater drains have been jetted clean. The cleanup operations are ongoing in the areas of the retention ponds.”
U.S. Navy owns hangar where foam spill happened, lawmakers say
Most of Brunswick Landing, formerly known as Brunswick Naval Air Station, is no longer in the Navy’s control. But hangar four, where the spill occurred, is owned by the Navy, lawmakers said. They asked Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro Monday to brief them about the Navy’s involvement in clean-up efforts.
“The Navy had planned to remove the fire suppression system at hangar 4 and other Brunswick facilities this month,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are further concerned that thousands of gallons of AFFF remain on site as part of the fire suppression systems in additional hangars at Brunswick Landing.”
The lawmakers — Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingre, and Jared Golden — told Del Toro the incident was the largest accidental AFFF spill in Maine’s history and the sixth largest in the country in the last 30 years.
“Our constituents are deeply concerned about the short and long-term health and environmental impacts of this spill, as well as potential future incidents,” they wrote.”We ask for your commitment to coordinating with federal, state, and local partners in providing assistance as the clean-up continues.”
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Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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