Today the Maine legislature’s committee on environment and natural resources heard public testimony on a series of three bills aimed at tracking and removing AFFF foam, the firefighting foam containing toxic PFAs forever chemicals.
Maine experienced its largest PFAs foam spill disaster in the state’s history this past August, when a hangar at the former naval air base in Brunswick released 1,450 gallons of AFFF foam into the surrounding environment.
Now, three bills are aimed at taking inventory of all PFAs foam in Maine and setting up systems to dispose of it. One bill specifically prohibits the use of the foam at the former Brunswick naval air station. The other two would establish a system to take a formal inventory of all existing PFAs foam in the state, and create a program for disposal by 2027.
Proponents for the bills say this disaster, the sixth worst PFAs spill in the country, could easily happen again, if actions aren't taken to inventory and dispose of the toxic foam.
"Unfortunately, the owner of the airport, Mira, still has 1000s of gallons of AFFF in its other two hangars, and so Brunswick is still not safe," said Jennifer Hicks, a resident of Brunswick and a member of the town council.
“In fact, the spill from hangar six would drain into the town of Brunswick Maine aquifer and shut down its public drinking water supply," she said.
Hicks said that for days after the August spill, the foam seeped out of manholes, floating in the air, and filled stormwater retention ponds in Brunswick. She said residents are still seeing high levels of PFAs in well water and soil.
Testimony in favor of the bills spanned from concerns over well water, air quality, shellfish, human and animal health, and property values in the Brunswick and Harpswell areas. Concerns largely involved worries about costs, both to the state and to firefighting departments.
Maine DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim, who testified neither for or against the bills, said that based on estimates from similar efforts in New Hampshire, cleanup alone could cost the state roughly $5 million. That’s about $100 per gallon for the estimated 50,000 gallons throughout the state.
But the bills’ proponents say the cost of doing nothing is significantly higher.
“The ongoing storage of PFAs foam and potential for release of the PFAs chemicals not only presents dire environmental and Public health consequences, but it also continues to present excessive financial risk to Maine people,” said Representative Poppy Arford of Brunswick.
“Although passage of these three bills will have a definite price tag, the monetary cost of not doing what they require may be much, much greater,” she added.
Where the foam would go, and how it would be destroyed, is still in question. Maine has shipped PFAs materials out of state before, where it is incinerated in plants in other communities, like Arkansas and Ontario. But some say this method draws ethical concerns. New Hampshire has recently enlisted emerging technology to "annihilate" the forever chemicals instead of burning them. But it's not yet available at scale to address the scope of the problem.
Jacob Hepner, a Waldo firefighter who has been with the department for 18 years, lives across the street from the firehouse, where they store the foam. He said he hasn’t been trained in handling and storing toxic chemicals, and he’s attempted to find a way to deal with the PFAs concentrate, but couldn’t find safe and affordable disposal options on his own.
“The risk at these concentrates posed to the groundwater of my town and so many others is a serious concern and deserves action,” he said. “There's a lot of foam concentrate that remains in storage all over the state. These chemicals are persistent and known carcinogens, and without a plan to safely identify and store them, the risks to firefighters, groundwater and the environment will continue.”
If passed, the bills would require a statewide inventory of all existing AFFF foam, and would implement a collection and disposal program, to be in place by 2027.