BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) — Maine environmental officials said all water samples analyzed so far in the wake of the state's largest recorded accidental spill of firefighting foam are below its guidelines for potentially dangerous chemicals.
A fire suppression system at a hangar at Brunswick Executive Airport discharged more than 1,400 gallons (5,300 liters) of the foam concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons (190,000 liters) of water at the former Navy base on Aug. 19. The discharge triggered an investigation and also prompted a warning from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to limit consumption of freshwater fish from nearby bodies of water.
The foam contained chemicals known as PFAS that are associated with health problems including cancer. The foam was removed after the accident.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection sampled 34 water supplies in the area of the spill and has contacted property owners to discuss the results, the agency said Thursday. The water supplies will be tested every three months for a year, the agency said.
The department has also evaluated eight rounds of surface water results from the nearby watershed and found concentrations are continuing to decline, the agency said in a statement.
“PFAS levels in the watershed have not yet returned to pre-spill concentrations and testing of surface water will continue to track the trends,” the department's statement said.
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in everything from food packaging to clothing. The Environmental Protection Agency last year proposed limits on the chemicals in drinking water.
Some fire departments have also started to phase out using foam that contains PFAS because of concerns the chemicals leach into groundwater and can put firefighters at risk. PFAS are often described as forever chemicals because some don’t degrade naturally and are believed capable of lingering indefinitely in the environment.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said soil results have also been received from four areas identified as either most likely to be impacted by the foam release or having the greatest risk of potential exposure to recreational users. A preliminary review of the results shows some PFAS detected in all the soils tested, the department said. Comprehensive evaluation of the soil testing is still ongoing, the department said.
The department said fish and shellfish tissue samples will take longer to process. The advisories against consuming freshwater fish from nearby waterbodies remained on the Maine CDC website on Monday.
Maine CDC said it is advising residents to abstain from recreational activities such as swimming and boating that could result in contact with foam or affected waters until the effects of the foam release on bodies of water in the area have been thoroughly evaluated.
FILE - This undated file photo provided in 2005 by Naval Air Station Brunswick shows the now-closed military air base in Brunswick, Maine. (Naval Air Station Brunswick via AP, File)
BOSTON (AP) — Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre filed a lawsuit Monday against a U.S. Senate committee that pursued contempt charges against him for failing to appear before the panel despite being issued a subpoena.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, named nearly all members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the committee which has investigated Steward’s bankruptcy.
The lawsuit claims that the lawmakers are unlawfully violating de la Torre's constitutional rights.
It alleges that the members of the committee, by trying to compel de la Torre to answer questions about Steward's bankruptcy, are “collectively undertaking a concerted effort to punish Dr. de la Torre for invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to ‘be compelled . . . to be a witness against himself.’”
De la Torre is asking the court to declare that all actions related to enforcement of the subpoena are invalid and unconstitutional — including the vote of the committee on Sept. 19 approving the criminal contempt resolution and its decision to present the resolution to the full Senate for a vote.
The Senate approved the resolution last week.
“No one can be compelled to testify when they exercise this right under these circumstances. Nor does the Constitution permit Congress to punish and intimidate him, or any other American, for exercising these rights,” William “Bill” Burck, a lawyer for de la Torre, said in a written statement.
The lawsuit comes a day before de la Torre is set to step down as CEO of Steward.
De la Torre has overseen Steward's network of some 30 hospitals around the country. The Texas-based company’s troubled recent history has drawn scrutiny from elected officials in New England, where some of its hospitals are located.
A spokesperson for de la Torre said Saturday that he “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms” and “will continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population.”
Sanders said earlier this month that Congress “will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America.”
Steward has shut down pediatric wards in Massachusetts and Louisiana, closed neonatal units in Florida and Texas, and eliminated maternity services at a hospital in Florida.
Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts said that over the past decade, Steward, led by de la Torre, and its corporate enablers, “looted hospitals across the country for profit, and got rich through their greedy schemes.”
Alexander Merton, an attorney for de la Torre, has said the fault instead lies with “the systemic failures in Massachusetts’ health care system” and that the committee was trying to frame de la Torre as a criminal scapegoat. Merton has also said that de la Torre would agree to testify at a later date.
On Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced her administration had formally seized a hospital through eminent domain to help keep it open and transition to a new owner. St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Boston was one of a group run by Steward. Operations will be transferred to Boston Medical Center.
Two other Steward-operated hospitals in Massachusetts were forced to close after qualified buyers could not be found during the bankruptcy process.
A senior shuttle bus going to a nearby retirement home rolls past a "Save Nashoba Hospital" sign displayed outside the former Nashoba Valley Medical Center, which closed on Aug. 31, 2024 and was part of the bankrupt Steward Health Care company, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Ayer, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A closed sign is posted on a glass door at a entrance to a building on grounds of the closed Carney Hospital, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A passer-by walks past an entrance to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
