MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 25, 2024
The accidental discharge last week of more than 1,500 gallons of firefighting foam concentrate from Brunswick Executive Airport – thick with PFAS, the forever chemicals that have already wrought so much loss and damage in our state – was more than 10,000 times the federal limit. As alarming as the incident itself – a public health nightmare that will have negative environmental ramifications for the local area for years to come – was the slipshod nature of the official response, and what that response reveals about insufficient oversight of storage of this type of foam concentrate, and harmful spills of it, across the state. The information made available to the public was conflicting and confusing. That the process of securing answers and establishing accountability has required a spill of this magnitude, with square feet of noxious foam blowing in the air we breathe and slipping into the water we use, is galling.