Official: Response Slow On Fuel Spill

A top state environmental official said Wednesday his agency does not think the Air Force is moving quickly enough to deal with a jet fuel spill now spreading through Albuquerque groundwater.

“We are not satisfied, quite frankly,” said Jim Davis, head of the New Mexico Environment Department’s Resource Protection Division. “We want the Air Force to move faster.”

But Davis, speaking to the board of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority in the evening, cautioned patience with the cleanup effort. “It does take time,” he said.

Under pressure from the state, the Air Force will drill nine new groundwater sampling wells this summer between the spill site and municipal wells to try to determine how far the spill has spread.

“We have not found the edge of it,” Davis said.

Davis’ comments came as state and Air Force officials updated members of the Water Utility board, some of whom expressed concern about the threat the spill poses to municipal drinking water wells.

The spill has not yet reached the municipal wells, located in neighborhoods near Kirtland Air Force Base, but Water Utility board members pressured the Air Force about what sort of commitments they would be willing to make if one of the utility’s wells becomes contaminated.

Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz, who sits on the Water Utility board, called the contamination “a significant threat” to the municipal water.

Tom Berardinelli, the base’s top civilian, said the Air Force is committed to cleaning up the water to safe levels, however long that takes. “At this time, it’s not possible to say when that might be,” he told the Water Utility board.

The Air Force discovered the spill, from an underground jet fuel pipe, in 1999, and officials believe it may have been leaking undetected for decades. A state Environment Department scientist estimated that as much as 24 million gallons may have leaked, contaminating groundwater beneath Albuquerque’s Southeast Heights and moving toward one of the Water Utility’s most productive drinking water well fields.

De La Cruz and Albuquerque City Councilor Rey Garduño, who also serves on the board, agreed to work together to develop a resolution guiding the Water Utility’s next steps in working with the Air Force to develop a contingency plan for what to do if contamination reaches municipal wells, and who will pay the associated costs.

Also on Wednesday, the Water Utility Board approved 5 percent rate hikes to take effect in 2015 and 2017 to raise money to deal with a faltering sewage treatment plant and aging water and sewer pipes that need replacement.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal