Two years after Brunswick PFAs spill, high levels of forever chemicals detected in Harpswell birds

MAINE PUBLIC • September 24, 2026

Researchers have found elevated levels of forever chemicals known as PFAs in birds that nest in Harpswell, two years after a massive firefighting foam spill at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. Micah Miller with the Biodiversity Research Institute said PFAs levels were four to five times higher in birds within about five miles of the spill, compared with those nesting 40 miles away from it. Conservation research had already been underway on eider ducks and bald eagles in the area, so it was possible for scientists to compare blood PFAS levels before and after the spill. "We actually see the highest concentrations closest to the base, and then they kind of steadily decrease the further you get away,” Miller said. The research shows birds within five miles of the spill site had four to five times the PFAs levels as birds nesting within 40 miles of the spill.