Hydrogeologist, project manager, civil servant

  • Published
  • By Michael P. Kleiman
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Kirtland Air Force Base, NM --  377th Civil Engineer Division's Mark Holmes has fulfilled all three roles in his quest to preserve the base's natural habitat

Growing up near the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee provided an ideal setting to foster Mark Holmes' interest in studying the origin, history, structure and natural wonders of our planet.

That passion has produced a 27-year federal career protecting the environment in Tennessee, the San Juan Basin of northwest New Mexico, and at Kirtland AFB.

Although he had been engaged in restoring the installation's natural habitat since 1993, one fateful moment in February 2007 would define both the base's and Holmes' focus for the next three years and beyond.

On his way home after work, Holmes decided to check KAFB 1065, a monitoring well across Randolph Road from the New Mexico Air National Guard.

Almost eight years earlier, a 377th Civil Engineer Division Airman had discovered a leak in pipes six-feet below the surface, extending from the base's fuel-offloading rack to two storage tanks. With support from the New Mexico Environment Department, KAFB's remediation efforts, led by Holmes and concentrated over a five-acre area, included the implementation of a soil vapor extraction unit, which used two V8 engines to remove jet fuel from 300-400 feet below the ground surface. Additionally, three groundwater monitoring wells between the leak's ground zero and two drinking-water production wells at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Kirtland AFB were monitored quarterly to ensure that the groundwater contamination was not affecting the wells.

"During the remediation process, soil contamination was found 300 feet below the surface in a large clay area, which had stopped the migration of the fuel and pooled. There was minor groundwater contamination, but no free product on the groundwater," said Holmes. "Following the investigation, the clean-up process involved the SVE, which NMED approved as a pilot test system to vacuum out the fuel. In 2003, NMED agreed with the results of the SVE pilot study and the base installed a final remediation system, which also consisted of nine extraction wells running around-the-clock. It currently operates 24/7 and extracts approximately 125 to 150 gallons per day."

During the next three and half years, Holmes continued the strategy of remediating the fuel in the area near the offloading rack.

Monitoring wells' results indicated progress in cleaning up subsurface fuel west of the original leak, but not so to the east. After many months of unsuccessful remediation in that area, Holmes' suspicion of a continuing source to the east prompted action.

Further investigation of the subsurface was conducted east of the offloading rack, but no additional contamination was found. The base eventually received approval from NMED to install another monitoring well, KAFB 1065, to conduct further investigation for continuing sources in another area to the east.

Fast forward to February 2007 and Holmes' suspicions were validated after the well indicated 1.4 feet of fuel in the groundwater. His finding served as a game-changer in the base's fuel leak saga, which has continued to garner headlines.

"After continuing our remediation efforts on the original five-acre area, the base volunteered to continue to look for the source of contamination. We volunteered to install KAFB 1065 in 2006," Holmes said. "Within 72 hours after finding fuel on the water table in February 2007, we notified NMED. Four additional monitoring wells were installed in 2007 to begin to delineate the extent of the leak plume."

Holmes' interest for cleaning up the fuel leak can be traced back to his formative years growing up in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Encouraged by his father, he became interested in the earth and its environment, and eventually received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Tennessee in 1971. Following graduation, Holmes worked as a geologist for a few years in the coal mining areas of eastern Tennessee for the state's department of health.

After taking 24 months off to explore the various geology formations across the United States, Canada and Mexico with his wife, Holmes was hired as a field geologist to explore for uranium with Union Carbide in west Texas.

After serving in the private sector for most of the 1970s, he was ready to become a public servant.

"In January 1981, I accepted a job with the U.S. Geological Survey in Farmington, N.M., as a geologist delineating the coal reserves -- mapping the coal sections underneath the ground -- information that was given to private industry. The land was leased for mining and the federal government received royalties. The job eventually transitioned into the Bureau of Land Management," said Holmes. "I was in Farmington for 10 years and eventually moved out of working with coal to working with other minerals. In 1991, I moved to Albuquerque to continue employment with the BLM, but ended up serving at the NMED."

At that point in his career, Holmes made the switch from pure geology to the environment. He joined the remediation section of NMED's underground storage tank bureau, which regulated fuel releases from subsurface holding units. Kirtland AFB represented one of his projects.

"While serving at NMED, I sent a letter to Kirtland AFB requiring an investigation at site Underground Storage Tank 58. Subsequently, I was hired by the base," Holmes said. "In an interesting twist of fate, I responded to my own letter."

During his first two years employed at the installation, Holmes held the position of program manager for the Civil Engineering Squadron's underground storage tank section.

In 1995, he accepted a job as a hydrogeologist in the unit's Environmental Management Branch, and has remained there ever since. Unlike Dr. John's hit song from 1973 titled "Right Place Wrong Time," Holmes said he emphatically believes his career has put him in the right place at the right time.

"My work has been rewarding. I have been a public servant most of my life and have helped to protect and clean up the environment," said Holmes. "I have been fortunate to have been able to utilize my original education in geology while working with friendly and capable people throughout my career. Everything I have done has been out of a sense of duty to contribute to the betterment of society, and that was the way I was raised. It has been an honor and privilege to do so."