Give it to the airforce, seems to be the answer, looking at this article.
LIMESTONE, Maine — An Aroostook County tribe has found that industrial hemp plants will extract so-called forever chemicals from contaminated soil on land it owns at the former Loring Air Force Base.
There’s one problem: no one can figure out what to do with the hemp.
“There hasn’t been a way to get the PFAS out of the plants without it going back into the environment,” said Mi’kmaq Nation Vice Chief Richard Silliboy.
Finding a way to take per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, out of contaminated hemp plants without unintentionally releasing them into the air is the next step in the tribe’s effort to remediate 650 acres of polluted land the U.S. government turned over to it 15 years ago.
Using hemp plants to suck up PFAS from the ground has been touted nationally as a potential fix for the widespread pollution. But the Maine tribe’s experience has revealed a significant obstacle to making it work. Testing will soon be underway to try to find a solution to the roadblock.
PFAS refers to a group of manufactured chemicals often found in household and personal care products that have polluted soil and water at former manufacturing sites. Known to break down slowly, the long-lasting “forever chemicals” have been linked to increased risk of some cancers, issues with hormonal and immune systems, developmental delays in children, and other health issues, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The land the federal government gave the Mi’kmaq Nation in 2009 was so contaminated it was designated a federal Superfund site. The Mi’kmaq property used to be a key training area for Loring firefighters, who used a PFAS-laden foam.
The Air Force promised the tribe that it would clean all known toxins prior to the land transfer in 2009, but that did not happen, Silliboy said. The Mi’kmaq have largely been left on their own to clean the PFAS from their land.
Michael Daly, the EPA’s remedial project manager for Loring Air Force Base, said that a portion of the Mi’kmaq land is part of an Air Force study to determine how far foam might have spread from Loring’s airport. Daly directed other questions about clean-up efforts to the Air Force.
Air Force spokespeople have not responded to requests for comment.
Rather than wait for federal investigators, tribal leaders found their own way to begin removing PFAS from soils on their property.
In 2019, Silliboy and Chelli Stanley co-founded Upland Grassroots, an organization dedicated to cleaning up the Mi’kmaq parcel. Stanley, who lives near Hallowell and has a background in community organizing, learned about hemp-based PFAS extraction and contacted Silliboy, who was immediately interested in its potential.
That year, Stanley, Silliboy and other tribal members planted and harvested several small plots of hemp plants on the Loring property. They sent the harvested hemp to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, a state-run scientific research facility.
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The plan to use hemp to solve Maine’s ‘forever chemicals’ problem hits a major snag
