Report finds gaps in USAF fuel spill inquest

Data needed for corrective measures

A strongly worded report contracted by the area’s water utility authority on the Air Force’s RCRA Facility Investigation on the fuel spill submitted in January points out several data gaps in the mandated report that must be filled before corrective measures can be implemented.

“Our evaluation found that the RFI document does not provide the evidentiary basis for conducting a CME (Corrective Measures Evaluation) and its conceptual model contains errors and omissions that could lead to an inappropriate or ineffective set of corrective measures,” reads a June 29 technical memorandum from INTERA Inc. to the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority.

The RFI report is required by the state and the Environmental Protection Agency and includes all relevant data necessary to analyze possible remediation solutions.

Eileen Marcillo of INTERA addressed the water authority during its Thursday meeting, saying the most significant shortcoming in the report is the lack of a defined mass of the fuel present in the soil and groundwater.

“The longevity of that plume is fully dependent on that mass,” she said.

Other concerns raised included misrepresentation and overestimation of fuel constituent degradation rates.

“The end result is that degradation of benzene and EDB is proceeding much more slowly than is purported in the RFI report,” INTERA wrote.

The New Mexico Environment Department sent a letter to the Air Force soon after the RFI was submitted addressing many of the same concerns.

“The INTERA report is very much in line with the comments that we had from our review,” said Diane Agnew, the state’s technical lead on the project, at the meeting.

The Aug. 3 letter required the Air Force to submit a work plan to address the concerns by Nov. 8, which has not yet been received.

A letter of deficiency was sent to the Air Force on Thursday.

Kathryn Lynnes, the Air Force’s senior advisor on the clean-up, agreed with most of the concerns cited by the state and INTERA and said the RFI report acknowledged many of the data gaps mentioned. “We knew we’d have to do more work,” Lynnes said.

Work on an addendum to the RFI, which will address the data gaps, is expected to begin in 2018.

Lynnes said more soil sampling will be done at the source zone and additional monitoring wells will be installed to better map the contamination.

As for the late work plan, Lynnes said they are working to complete it as soon as possible.

“It’s unacceptable and there’s going to be some people that I’m going to have a really stern conversation with when I get back to the office,” she said.