Insurance claim will only cover a fraction of the Brunswick spill costs

The entity on the hook for the disastrous toxic foam spill in Brunswick last August reported that it received a $250,000 payout after the incident, covering just a fraction of the costs it has racked up.

The Maine Bureau of Risk Management issued the sum — a policy limit for environmental remediation and cleanup — to Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority as part of an insurance policy with the state. The detail was included in an annual report submitted to Gov. Janet Mills' office earlier this week, which is a requirement stipulated in Maine statute.

The $250,000 insurance payout makes a mere dent in the $781,000 cleanup bill the authority had accrued as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Remediation has been ongoing since Aug. 19, 2024, when one of the hangars leased from the Navy malfunctioned and spilled 1,450 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons of water. Mounting spill response costs stem from environmental cleanup and decontamination services, lost revenue, and legal fees.

AFFF contains toxic chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The chemical family is known to be harmful to human health, and the authority has reiterated that it has a goal of removing the substance from its hangars.

MRRA has pending funding requests to help with addressing PFAS at its airport to the tune of $21.9 million. It submitted budget requests to Mills' office and the Federal Aviation Administration in the fall.

MRRA had noted in a document submission to the Environmental Protection Agency in December that it filed three insurance claims with the policies it had on the hangar. Only one of the policies was approved.

One policy — an airport insurance policy through the Risk Management Bureau underwritten by Chubb Insurance — was denied due to a PFAS-exclusion clause. A second policy claim with Acadia Insurance was denied for the same clause.

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