PFAS from 2024 spill are showing up in Harpswell’s birds

HARPSWELL ANCHOR • September 10, 2026

Eider ducks and bald eagles that nest in and around Harpswell have levels of PFAS chemicals four to five times higher in birds within about 5 miles of Brunswick Landing compared to those sampled 40 miles away, following an August 2024 spill of firefighting foam on the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. Scientists from the Biodiversity Research Institute found themselves in a unique position after the spill, when 1,450 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam concentrate leftover from the U.S. Navy’s firefighting system mixed with 50,000 gallons of water entered streams and waterways that drain into Harpswell Cove. The institute’s researchers had been testing eider ducks in Casco Bay for mercury since about 2015.