TIMES RECORD • December 9, 2024
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will resume testing this week for toxic “forever chemicals,” as part of an effort to determine whether a disastrous firefighting foam spill at the Brunswick Executive Airport on Aug. 19 contaminated nearby private drinking water wells. This round of testing comes months after the first sample batch in September showed concerning levels of PFAS in many wells, though these results are unlikely a result of the spill, given the slow rate of ground water movement. The sampling from September and this month are just two of the several planned tests in the wake of Maine’s worst toxic chemical spill in 30 years, in which 1,450 gallons of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) mixed with 50,000 gallons of water were released. The chemical family of PFAS can be harmful to human health.