Brunswick Landing has taken another step to rid itself of toxic firefighting foam, as policymakers seek to understand — and eventually remove — Maine’s stock of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF).

American Airlines purchased 5,925 gallons of AFFF concentrate — a fire-suppressing foam that contains a toxic PFAS compound known as PFOS — from the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, the organization that manages Brunswick Landing’s transition as a former Navy base. The airline removed the AFFF from MRRA property on July 3, according to MRRA Executive Director Dan Stevenson.

Now home to businesses, residences and the Brunswick Executive Airport, the former base was the site of an August 2024 spill that released 1,450 gallons of AFFF concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons of water from Hangar 4, polluting local ecosystems and wells.

American Airlines paid $250,000 for the foam concentrate in Hangars 5 and 7 of the airport. MRRA plans to use the sale proceeds to clean the AFFF system in Hangar 5, Town Manager Julia Henze said at the Brunswick Town Council meeting Monday evening. Henze said American Airlines will likely use the foam for fire suppression at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The deal will leave MRRA with no remaining AFFF nearly a year after the spill, though residuals still need to flushed from Hangars 5 and 6, Stevenson said Monday.

The airline did not immediately respond to a request to comment Monday afternoon. Stevenson said a full statement from MRRA on the deal will be released soon.

The removal comes following the recent passage of a law requiring MRRA to shut off all AFFF systems and remove remaining foam by the end of the year.

Even trace amounts of the forever chemicals that make up the bulk of the foam are considered a public health risk, according to federal regulators. High exposure over a long time can cause cancer. Exposure during critical life stages, such as in early childhood, can also cause life-changing harm.

Brunswick lawmakers advanced several other bills this legislative session in response to the Brunswick spill.

Gov. Janet Mills signed legislation (LD 400) last week to require the state fire marshal to compile a statewide inventory of AFFF. Under the new law, the Fire Marshal’s Office will survey public entities, like fire departments and airports, and private ones, like fuel depots and factories, and create a publicly available online database.

The law will officially go into effect on Sept. 24, but Rep. Dan Ankeles, D- Brunswick, said at Monday’s council meeting that the Fire Marshal’s Office has already completed much of the public sector portion of the inventory.

Brunswick lawmakers also backed LD 222, a state AFFF takeback program. A version of the takeback bill without a funding source was passed in the Legislature this session but is awaiting action from the governor. A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Tuesday that she will not act on the bill until the next legislative session.

Another new law restructures the MRRA to require more oversight by members of the Brunswick and Topsham communities in the organization’s board of trustees.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center removed 975 gallons of foam concentrate from the airport’s Hangar 6 in April, which it is using to study foam disposal methods. Maine has struggled to determine how to dispose of its stockpile of toxic AFFF. The most common disposal methods — incineration, landfilling and deep underground storage — all have drawbacks.

Following the August spill, cleanup company Clean Harbors trucked 12,500 gallons of foam and tainted rinse water to its incinerator outside of Sarnia, Ontario, and 10,000 gallons to its incinerator in El Dorado, Arkansas.

MRRA officials say they’re still awaiting analysis by Poole Fire Protection Systems detailing the root causes of the malfunction that caused the August 2024 spill.