Next step in Kirtland cleanup near

Kirtland Air Force Base’s new “soil vapor extraction” unit should be up and running, sucking spilled jet fuel out of the ground, by Jan. 18, according to base spokeswoman Marie Vanover. Kirtland had hoped to have the unit, which is significantly larger than the current cleanup units now in use at the site, operational by the end of 2012, but the work was delayed by unit manufacturing and shipping issues, according to Vanover.

This is the latest step in dealing with problems left by millions of gallons of jet fuel that leaked unnoticed for decades from an underground pipe at Kirtland’s jet fuel loading facility. The risk now is that the fuel is moving toward municipal water wells. Some background on the larger cleanup unit, the history of the fuel spill, and the problems the new cleanup technology faces, in this story from last July.