What we know about the toxic foam spill in Brunswick

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 29, 2024

Last week, the fire suppression system at the Brunswick Executive Airport malfunctioned and released 1,450 gallons of firefighting foam containing toxic PFAS chemicals into a hangar and the surrounding environment. Cleanup efforts are ongoing, and a variety of agencies are continuing to monitor and do testing around the site. Meanwhile, many Brunswick-area residents have expressed concern about the health and environmental effects from the spill, and will be convening during a public forum at town hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Here’s what we know about the spill so far.

Officials face packed town hall in Brunswick after toxic foam spill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 29, 2024

More than 100 people from the Brunswick area attended a public forum Thursday night about the recent spill of more than 1,000 gallons of toxic firefighting foam. On Aug. 19, the fire suppression system at the Brunswick Executive Airport malfunctioned and released 1,450 gallons of the foam containing toxic PFAS chemicals into a hangar and the surrounding environment. Maine State Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, said at the meeting that this spill was the worst of its kind in Maine and one of the worst nationwide. The Brunswick Town Council will be pushing through a resolution to demand the cleanup of the foam at its meeting next week, and Ankeles said state representatives will be considering legislation regarding the removal of the foam and long-term PFAS disposal.

Many questions and frustrations, but few answers at special meeting about Brunswick chemical spill

TIMES RECORD • August 29, 2024

Concerns about the recent spill of toxic firefighting foam containing PFAS at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station drew more than 100 residents to a special meeting Thursday night, with many at the sometimes heated meeting voicing their frustrations over a lack of communication and information about the dangers posed by the forever chemicals. The meeting comes 10 days after a malfunctioning fire suppression system released 1,450 gallons of AFFF – a toxic firefighting foam that contains forever chemicals as PFAS – into Hangar 4 and surrounding areas. The fire suppression system in the hangar, which is owned by Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, has since been shut down.

Reward doubled for info on illegal gillnet in Magalloway River

SUN JOURNAL • August 29, 2024

The reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for putting an illegal gillnet in the Magalloway River in the northern Oxford County territory was doubled Thursday. Operation Game Thief, working with the Maine Warden Service, is now offering a $2,000 reward. “The additional reward was donated by a concerned citizen in the area.” The Magalloway River is one of Maine’s premier native brook trout fisheries. The gillnet was about 36 feet long and 9 feet deep. Gillnets kill whatever becomes entrapped in them.

Brunswick residents with wells face testing barriers in wake of chemical spill

TIMES RECORD • August 29, 2024

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said it will consider reimbursing homeowners up to $300 for one set of expensive PFAS well water tests near Brunswick Landing, but only if any PFAS levels resulted from this month’s major firefighting foam spill. The DEP will still test a select few wells east of the former Naval air base for PFAS in accordance to its still-developing sampling plan. How exactly residents can prove any contamination in their well is related to the recent spill and not preexisting is unclear.

Burning truck releases diesel into Long Creek, gravel wetland near Maine Mall

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2024

A tractor-trailer full of produce caught fire in a South Portland parking lot near the Maine Mall early Thursday, officials said, leaking roughly 70 gallons of diesel and requiring the use of firefighting foam to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters determined that the truck’s diesel fuel was burning, and they estimated that 70 gallons were released. Crews extinguished the fire with 47 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) – the same material accidentally released at Brunswick Executive Airport on Aug. 19 – which is known to contain PFAS “forever chemicals.” Firefighters also laid containment booms to try and catch fuel and foam that may have flowed into a gravel wetland and branch of Long Creek. Despite that effort, some diesel flowed into both areas. Officials are advising pedestrians to avoid the area.

Letter: Keep your cats indoors

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 29, 2024

Our neighborhood kitty, Buttons, has passed away from being hit by a vehicle on very busy Union Street in Bangor. Outside is no place for cats. They can’t survive wild animals, wild people or multi-ton vehicles. Keep them indoors. ~ Jane E. Deane, Bangor

Mainers may see more savings from using electricity during off hours

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2024

Maine regulators on Monday expanded their study of time-of-use rates that would bill customers depending on when they use electricity. The Public Utilities Commission studied the issue at the direction of the Legislature and reported in November that “carefully designed” rate changes are “likely to shift load, reduce peaks and thus meaningfully reduce overall costs for ratepayers.” Time-of-use rates encourage electricity use at off-peak times to give ratepayers an incentive to wait, for example, to charge their cars overnight rather than immediately after work when many utility customers typically use electricity. Switching to times of day when most utility customers don’t use much power also helps ease electricity loads on the Maine and New England grids.

Acadia-related spending drops for second year as fewer people visit

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2024

Nearly 4 million people who visited Acadia National Park in 2023 spent $475 million in and around Bar Harbor – a figure that’s down slightly from 2022 but up significantly from pre-pandemic numbers, according to a new report from the National Park Service. Spending by 3.88 million park visitors last year also supported 6,000 jobs and had a cumulative benefit of $685 million to the wider Down East economy, the park service reported. Superintendent Kevin Schneider said in a statement. “We’re proud that Acadia National Park not only offers visitors an extraordinary experience but significantly supports local businesses.”

Scientists express concern about scale of foam spill, the latest in a long, dirty history at former base

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2024

The concentration and diversity of toxic forever chemicals released in last week’s firefighting foam spill at the Brunswick Executive Airport is even higher – and according to some scientists, even worse – than what was first announced by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Last week, a malfunctioning fire suppression system discharged 51,450 gallons of firefighting foam 4 to 5 feet deep in Hangar 4, emptying into the sewer and stormwater drains. The Aug. 19 spill is believed to be among the nation’s worst in 30 years. State and local officials have reassured the public that the public drinking water supply is safe. Gail Carlson, head of Colby College’s Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, said, “I’d be scared if I lived there…I’ve been working in this field for a long time and I’ve never seen numbers like these.”

Column: Not a bad time to go to work

CENTRAL MAINE • August 29, 2024

Almost without our noticing it, Maine has become a better place to work. There’s more than enough room for new industry in the vast northern spaces. Plenty of forest land is under conservation easements, and along much of the coast the primacy of tourism will keep any unwelcome or unwise changes at bay. Beyond the big projects, there’s intense interest in local economies. There are well over a hundred farmers’ markets with more being added yearly, and “local food” has also spurred growth in restaurants, breweries and year-round stores. All this suggests that Maine, which has avoided the problems that can arise from unchecked growth, may be on a sustainable course for the generations yet to come. If you’re a young Mainer, you can probably find an interesting job here. If you’re a visitor, there may finally be enough here to tempt you to settle down and raise a family. ~ Douglas Rooks

Western Maine Audubon presents “Legislative Summary,” a talk by Maine Audubon’s Nick Lund

DAILY BULLDOG • August 28, 2024

Western Maine Audubon is sponsoring a live talk by Maine Audubon’s Advocacy and Outreach Manager, Nick Lund, on the organization’s legislative victories in the 131st Maine Legislature. September 11, 7 pm, in Thomas Auditorium of UMF’s Preble Hall, Farmington. Free and open to the public.

Wardens pull illegal gillnet from Oxford County river; $1,000 reward offered for info

SUN JOURNAL • August 28, 2024

The Maine Warden Service is seeking the public’s help to learn who put an illegal gillnet in the Magalloway River, a “premier trout” stream, in the northern Oxford County territory. Maine Operation Game Thief is offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to contact Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US. They can also submit a tip online through the Maine Operation Game Thief app “Tip 411” or through the website at www.maineogt.org.

Column: The woods and The Singularity

MORNING SENTINEL • August 28, 2024

Statistical analyses of progress have shown that the rate of increase of multi-complicated tasks performed by technology increases exponentially. In one school of thought, computers are progressing so rapidly that they are going to dramatically alter human life and possibly give rise to a sort of neo-humanity. It is thought that 2045 is turning-point moment in human-computer interface is called The Singularity. The Singularity, by neoloppropriation, is “the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence,” which will be an event so radically transformative that it is a social, cultural and scientific event horizon. The super-AI will not hear any silence, will not understand words that aren’t words, and will not be able to analyze nothing. The nothing whose boundary is nearer in the woods than it is in pictures of woods on a screen. ~ Dana Wilde

Opinion: Maine PERS still wrongly financing climate chaos

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 28, 2024

The Maine Public Employee Retirement System is using your tax dollars to make climate change worse. Our taxes pay the salaries of state workers, and part of those salaries goes into their pension fund, Maine PERS. In 2021, our state Legislature passed a law telling Maine PERS to stop investing in the expansion of fossil fuels infrastructure. Maine PERS decided to ignore that law. This is puzzling because there are strategies that safeguard both pension fund profitability and our families’ safety from climate disruption. Research shows that the Maine PERS pension fund would be larger today if they had pursued these divestment strategies 20 years ago. ~ Richard Thomas, Ph.D., Waterville

Healthy Maine Talks Podcast: #1 on PFAS: Brunswick & Topsham Water District

MAINE PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION • August 27, 2024

On Monday, August 19th, more than a thousand gallons of AFFF fire fighting foam containing high concentrations of PFAS—a class of "forever chemicals" associated with significant health concerns—was accidentally discharged at the Brunswick Executive Airport due to a malfunctioning fire suppression system. Craig W. Douglas, PE, General Manager of the Brunswick & Topsham Water District, joins Healthy Maine Talks for this special episode to share information about why the district believes there is currently no impact to the public water supply from the spill, and what they're doing to monitor the situation.

‘Deafening silence of information’: Brunswick Landing businesses feel impact of foam spill

TIMES RECORD • August 26, 2024

After an Aug. 19 chemical spill at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, residents and customers in the redeveloped neighborhood, which is home to over 100 businesses and organizations, quickly turned to social media, calling local representatives and reaching out to the businesses they frequent to fill the information void. While some Brunswick Landing businesses experienced minimal impact from last week’s frenzy surrounding the spill others became unwilling communications officers in an environmental emergency. For nearly three days, it fell on Brunswick Landing businesses to disseminate vital information. “There was a deafening silence of information.” The public can now access online much-needed safety information at brunswicklanding.us/afff-hangar-4-faq/.

Maine hospitals launch green initiatives to offset high energy use

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 26, 2024

Maine’s hospitals are launching key environmental sustainability initiatives, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the battle against climate change. Hospitals don’t display obvious signs of being polluters, but they are among the top energy users. Northern Light Health this year has eliminated the use of desflurane, an anesthetic gas that emits a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide. Northern Light’s initiatives to reduce emissions include using heat pumps to supplement or replace existing fossil fuel heating and cooling systems, replacing light bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs, composting food waste, converting gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles, and purchasing sustainable supplies. MaineHealth’s initiatives include replacing lighting with LED bulbs, insulating old pipes, using renewable energy sources for heating and cooling, electric vehicles, reducing food waste, and eliminating desflurane gas.

First tests reveal high PFAS levels in spilled foam, ponds at Brunswick Landing

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 26, 2024

Initial state tests reveal extremely high concentrations of an especially long-lasting and toxic forever chemical at Brunswick Landing, where a malfunction in an airport hangar’s fire suppression system created one of the country’s biggest firefighting foam spills in 30 years. The tests found 3.2 billion parts per trillion of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, in the chemical tank that fed 1,450 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) concentrate into a malfunctioning fire suppression system at Hangar 4 at Brunswick Executive Airport on Aug. 19. Maine has established several screening guidelines for remedial action when it comes to PFOS – 1,000 parts per trillion for groundwater leachate. The new federal drinking water standard for PFOS is stricter: no more than 4 parts per trillion. Scientists say even trace amounts of these manmade compounds can be harmful to people.

Despite Midcoast wildlife run-ins, rabies cases are down this year

TIMES RECORD • August 26, 2024

Despite Midcoast residents’ recent run-ins with rabid animals, confirmed rabies cases are down dramatically compared to last year. So far, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed 35 rabies cases in Maine, down from 51 cases to this point in 2023.