Earthwork at bulk fuels site to begin Published June 19, 2014 By Lee Ross Nucleus editor KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Kirtland will excavate the soil around the site of the original bulk fuel facility spill in July. About 1,700 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be removed from the area where fuel was previously offloaded into underground piping for transfer to the old base fuel storage tanks, according to Scott Clark, an Air Force Civil Engineer Center environmental engineer. It's near the site of the original leak, which was discovered in 1999. Free fuel product was found in the groundwater in January 2007. The base fuel-handling and storage facility was completely rebuilt in 2011 and features fully visible above-ground piping and electronic fuel-tracking equipment to ensure protection of the environment. Over the past several years, soil from the area of the spill has been thoroughly tested for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Any soil with 1,000 parts per million or greater of TPH will be removed and disposed of at a specially-permitted soil remediation site in Valencia County, Clark said. Confirmation soil sampling will be performed as an ongoing part of the excavation to ensure all of the contaminated soil is removed and properly disposed, according to Clark. The operation is expected to be completed by mid-August. The contaminated soil removal project is one of a number of interim measures the Air Force is employing to remediate the effects of the fuel spill. The efforts to remediate the fuel spill, including this excavation, are directed by the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and administered by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). All Air Force cleanup proposals must be rigorously reviewed and approved by NMED before any actions can take place.