Kirtland Air Force fuel leak in Exxon Valdez oil spill category

By Marjorie Childress 5/5/10 9:22 AM
The jet fuel leak that has been slowly creeping off Kirtland Airforce Base, and contaminating Albuquerque’s water supply while its at it, is “massive.” So massive that it’s in the Exxon Valdez oil spill category, said Albuquerque Journal science writer John Fleck yesterday in a column. And state officials think its a very serious problem.

The numbers are in dispute, Fleck noted, with the air force claiming the spill is between one and two million gallons, but the state environment department claiming its an eight-million gallon spill. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska’s Prince Williams Sound in 1989.

The Kirtland jet fuel leak was discovered in 1999 but the problem began in the 1970s. It was only made public in 2008, when air force officials discovered it had migrated off the base into nearby groundwater. The fuel is sitting on top of groundwater, more than a foot deep in some areas.

Air Force officials downplayed the danger of the spill in 2008, saying that it would be cleaned up before it ever reached a drinking water well. But state environment department officials have a greater sense of urgency apparently.While there are 27 cases of contaminated groundwater in Bernalillo County, nothing comes close to the scale of the Kirtland jet fuel leak, and state officials want it cleaned up, said Fleck: More>>>