Re: [CPEO-MEF] FUEL: PBS Story on Kirland AFB (NM) plume

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Air Force says fuel cleanup will begin

By John Fleck
Albuquerque Journal (NM)
May 15, 2014

The Air Force is on schedule to have a small pilot project cleanup  
system installed and operating by July 1 to remove contaminants from  
a jet fuel spill, a Kirtland Air Force Base spokesman said Wednesday,  
meeting a state Environment Department mandate and avoiding  
threatened fines of up to $10,000 a day.

The system will be capable of pulling contaminants from an area about  
50 feet across, a fraction of the mile-long area of contaminated  
groundwater, state and Air Force documents show - drawing fire from  
critics who say it isn’t enough.

The spill, involving an estimated 6 million to 24 million gallons of  
aircraft fuel, came from a small leak in an underground pipeline at  
the Albuquerque military facility. It was discovered in 1999, but  
likely had been leaking for decades. The contamination is moving  
through groundwater to the northeast, in the direction of Albuquerque  
drinking water wells.


...

For the entire article, see
http://www.abqjournal.com/400257/news/air-force-cleanup-will-begin.html

On May 14, 2014, at 8:13 AM, Lenny Siegel wrote:

> Does decades-long fuel leak threaten drinking water safety in  
> Albuquerque?
>
> PBS News Hour
> May 13, 2014
>
> KATHLEEN MCCLEERY: The trouble started here at Kirtland Air Force  
> Base more than six decades ago. The sprawling base, about the size  
> of Washington, D.C., sits on the southeast border of Albuquerque,  
> the state’s largest city.
> It’s home to the Air Force’s Nuclear Weapons Center, as well as a  
> special operations wing.
>
> Colonel Jeff Lanning is commander of the mission support group at  
> the base.
>
> COL. JEFF LANNING, Kirtland Air Force Base: It was in this area we  
> found fuel actually coming to the surface, and we knew we had some  
> kind of a problem at that point.
>
> KATHLEEN MCCLEERY: That problem was a leak dating to the 1950s,  
> when railcars and trucks delivered fuel to pipelines, powering  
> planes at the growing base.
>
> ...
>
> For the entire story, see
> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/decades-long-fuel-leak-threaten- 
> drinking-water-safety-albuquerque/
>
> --
>
> Lenny Siegel
> Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
> a project of the Pacific Studies Center
> 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
> Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
> Fax: 650/961-8918
> <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
> http://www.cpeo.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Military mailing list
> Military@lists.cpeo.org
> http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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