SCIENTISTS HOPE TO DETERMINE IF THERE ARE FOREVER CHEMICALS IN SOMES SOUND

Select Board supports Dr. Disney's work to see if contamination from MDI High School spread to mud flats

Apr 02, 2024

MOUNT DESERT—Could forever chemicals be in northeastern Somes Sound? And if so, could they have spread from MDI High School?

Dr. Jane Disney of the Bar Harbor-based MDI Biological Laboratory and Mount Desert’s Shellfish Committee hope to find out. Committee Chair Rustin Taylor told the Select Board Monday night that the committee supports Disney’s work to try to secure a grant to see if PFAS (forever chemicals) are in the clams of Somes Sound. The bivalves are a good bio indicator of the chemicals’ presence.

In July of 2022, the school’s drinking water was tested for PFAS, which are per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, often called “forever chemicals.” Maine tests for PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, PFHpA, and PFDA.

Jeffrey Kluger cited a study by University of Florida’s Timothy Townsend who wrote in a March 2023 article for Time,

“PFAS are found pretty much everywhere: in soaps, shampoos, cleaning products, clothing, food packaging, plastics, firefighting foam, carpeting and, as recent studies have revealed, in menstrual products, including tampons, pads, and period underwear. The chemicals contaminate the soil surrounding manufacturing plants and have been detected in the water supply—at least in communities that bother to look. There is no national mandate that water supplies be screened for PFAS, but the chemical’s presence in toilet paper provides one more route it can take into groundwater, drinking water and, eventually into us. And it’s not as if we or other creatures need another exposure route. PFAS have already been detected in wildlife, human blood, and breastmilk.”

Disney hopes to receive a grant from the Davis Conservation Fund to determine if there is PFAS contamination on the mudflats.

“We are aware of the issue at Mt. Desert Island High School, where PFAS contamination in wastewater has been discovered in groundwater and surface water that drains to the head of Somes Sound,” Rustin Taylor, committee chair, wrote in a March 21 letter to Dr. Disney.

The committee supported and praised her work in the letter and at the Select Board meeting.

He went on to write, “The Sound used to be closed to commercial and recreational harvesting of soft-shell clams and mussels due to bacterial pollution. Over the last few decades, this area has been seasonally open to shellfish harvesting, partly due to improved water quality. Until now, bacterial contamination of mudflats has been the largest concern. Since that threat has been eliminated, it is now (sic)important to confirm whether the PFAS in groundwater and surface water near the high school and in the drinking water of neighbors who live directly across the road from Somes Sound is present in the mudflat environment.”

“I think that it’s great that you’re doing this,” Select Board member Rick Mooers said.

“We’re not looking for a problem,” a colleague of Dr. Disney told the Select Board. And they aren’t trying to be sensationalistic, he said. They just hope to do some sampling.

If the grant is approved, the scientists will likely look at both sediment and sample tissues of up to a dozen clams in the area.

“Shellfish can be a great bio-indicator where they are a filter feeder for that kind of thing,” Taylor said.

After the high school’s discovery of PFAS, some nearby neighbors also tested and found it in their wells.

“This is a huge problem in Maine, and PFAS tests, at $285 to $400, are expensive for those in rural communities,” said Chris Richards, who is also a chemistry professor at the University of Kentucky in an April 2023 press release for a joint study about PFAS’ impact over a lifespan, a study that Dr. Disney is also involved in.

The board members unanimously indicated its general support for the project.

WHAT ARE PFAS?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency explains PFAS as

“PFAS are widely used, long lasting chemicals, components of which break down very slowly over time.
“Because of their widespread use and their persistence in the environment, many PFAS are found in the blood of people and animals all over the world and are present at low levels in a variety of food products and in the environment.
“PFAS are found in water, air, fish, and soil at locations across the nation and the globe.
“Scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.
“There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, and they are found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products. This makes it challenging to study and assess the potential human health and environmental risks.”

BROADBAND BUILD-OUT

The board approved accepting funding for broadband building out of approximately $140,000 from the Hancock County Commissioners and using $131,000 in ARPA funding from the GL account to the broadband buildout of Spectrum.

Spectrum has done most of the broadband work in the town, but there are about 47 residences that are not connected.

FIRE TRUCK

The original motion for a 2024 GMC Sierra 3500HD crew cab pick-up truck for $56,320 is now going to be increased by $125 for documentation and administration fees. Those fees had been left off the original quote.

OTHER BUSINESS

The Select Board appointed Mitchell Burr as a paid on-call firefighter with a starting pay of $18 an hour. It appointed Jaden Gordon to the building and grounds division at an hourly rate of $25 an hour. It also appointed Micheal Gibson as a part-time seasonal employee in the waste management division at an hourly rate of $25 an hour.

The committee also accepted the minutes from the Shellfish Committee meetings on June 1, 2023, January 11, February 15, and March 12 2024 and Warrant Committee Minutes from March 12.

The Select Board approved The Nor’Easter’s special amusement permit and liquor license renewal request, a wedding at Suminsby Park in October, signage on Routes 102 and 3 and Eagle Lake Road. The Board accepted a Friends of Acadia gift of $2,000 for a speed display sign for the Jordan Pond Road.

The board members also supported the application for a $238,000 community development block grant on behalf of the Mount Desert Housing Authority for fire safety upgrades at the Maple Lane Apartments.

It also approved the payment of just over $2,000 for repair work for docks that were damaged in the March storm.