MAINE MONITOR • October 2, 2022
To accelerate a transition to PFAS-free formulations of the firefighting foam known as AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam, or “A-triple-F”), Congress set an October 2024 deadline in the 2020 National Defense Reauthorization Act for the Department of Defense to select firefighting foam options that do not contain PFAS. That act also required a moratorium on the DOD’s incineration of old AFFF, effective last spring, due to concerns that PFAS don’t fully degrade in that process, and can contaminate air and communities near incinerator sites. To reduce further spread of PFAS chemicals into water systems, Maine enacted a law in July 2021 mandating that AFFF be used only in emergency situations.