Maine
PFAS Spill 'Catastrophe' at Former Navy Base in Maine Stokes Concern Amid Military’s National Cleanup
Cleanup of 51,450 gallons of firefighting foam and PFAS-contaminated water continues at a Navy-owned, privately leased hangar and its surrounding area in Maine — the second accident in two months involving stockpiles at active and former military installations.
A fire suppression system in a hangar at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station was triggered by mistake on Aug. 19, discharging 1,450 gallons of aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF, and 50,000 gallons of water into the building, nearby stormwater drains, sewer systems and drainage ponds at what is now part of Brunswick Executive Airport.
The Navy had planned to remove the foam, which contains PFAS chemicals – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – in October, according to Washington, D.C.-based advocates the Environmental Working Group.
Read Next: Marine Sergeant Major Fired from Recruit Depot Was Arrested and Faces NCIS Investigation
While the Navy was not responsible for the spill, the service is communicating with the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which leases portions of the former base and is in charge of the cleanup, according to David Bennett, the public affairs officer for the Base Realignment and Closure Project Management Office.
“The Navy is taking action across the country to remove AFFF from mobile systems, hangars or other structures located on property the Navy owns, including properties leased to third parties,” Bennett said in a statement to Military.com on Sept. 9.
PFAS chemicals are commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body. They have been linked to a number of health conditions, including testicular and kidney cancer, low birth weights, and other medical issues.
Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency placed new limits on the acceptable levels of certain types of PFAS in drinking water following extensive research that found the substances potentially were harmful in any amount.
The Brunswick discharge followed a spill in July of more than 7,000 gallons of water contaminated with PFAS at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. According to a news release from installation officials Aug. 30, the water, which contained AFFF, had been removed from emergency vehicles as part of the Air Force’s effort to remove PFAS-based foams from its systems.
After the Brunswick discharge, Jared Hayes, senior policy analyst at the Environmental Working Group, told Military.com that the prospect of spills has been “looming over communities across the U.S.,” especially those near active and former Defense Department bases.
“Some of the biggest spills in the country in the past have been from military installations because they have such a concentrated and large inventory of [AFFF],” Hayes said in an interview Aug. 29.
The fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act required the Defense Department to stop using AFFF for training and operations after Oct. 1, 2024, except on ocean-going vessels, where uncontrolled fires pose a significant threat to equipment and personnel.
As a result of the deadline, the services have started removing their stockpiles from more than 1,500 facilities and 6,000 pieces of portable equipment and vehicles.
The DoD announced in July, however, that it needed a one-year waiver to extend the deadline because, while it had made “significant progress” in meeting the law, it needed time to remove AFFF from all of its assets and additional time to install systems that use an alternative foam.
“DoD is committed to eliminating AFFF for use for firefighting operations across its installations,” officials said in a briefing July 1.
Hayes said his organization expects the DoD to use a second waiver allowed under the law and extend the removal process through October 2026.
“The DoD really needs to step up what they’ve been doing and make it a much bigger priority to remove these legacy firefighting foams from their active systems, contain them and make sure there isn’t a risk of contamination like what happened at Brunswick,” Hayes said.
The Brunswick town council passed a resolution Sept. 3 calling for a full investigation into the spill and disabling of PFAS-based foam suppression systems at other hangars at the facility.
“This event is a public health and environmental catastrophe unlike any other our community has ever seen,” Brunswick Town Council Chairwoman Abby King wrote in a letter accompanying the resolution to Maine Gov. Janet Mills. “My community is desperate for answers as to how the damage of this event will be mitigated, their health protected, and future incidents prevented.”
As of March 31, the DoD has assessed 710 of 717 active and former installations for potential releases of PFAS chemicals and subsequent contamination. It has found 578 that need further study and has started those additional investigations at 350 locations, according to the department.
Brunswick Naval Air Station officially closed in 2011.
DoD to Expand Investigation, Cleanup of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Response to New EPA Standards
Story Continues
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.
-
Lifestyle20 minutes agoGreetings from London, where Banksy’s flag man is a warning cry
-
Education23 minutes ago
This Little Robot Cleans Windows
-
Technology28 minutes agoComcast’s split could make or break Peacock
-
World35 minutes agoState Department congratulates Keiko Fujimori as Peru’s president-elect following razor-thin vote count
-
Politics38 minutes agoMamdani ripped for claiming victory over capitalism after NYC’s multi-billion dollar taxpayer funded bailout
-
Health43 minutes agoAmerican vaccines that transformed public health over 250 years: ‘Outweighs harm’
-
Sports50 minutes agoEx-NFL reporter Dianna Russini interaction with police officer to dodge traffic ticket comes to light
-
Business58 minutes agoJoby Aviation creates a joint venture with Toyota to build air taxis
