Cleanup of Spilled Jet Fuel at Fort Drum Could Take 10 Years
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Army officials say it could take as long as 10 years and cost $10 million to clean up 350,000 gallons of jet fuel that has leaked into the ground at Fort Drum's Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield.
Fort Drum Public Works Director James Corriveau says the Army has spent about $2 million so far to recover about 32,000 gallons of spilled fuel through five wells. The Army will add 10 more wells this summer.
The recovered fuel is being shipped to a recycling plant where it will be processed and returned to the military for use in heating plants or as vehicle fuel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Corriveau says the fuel may have been leaking since as early as 2001 or 2002. It wasn't discovered until April 2006. Investigators traced the leak to a faulty valve on a sump beneath a refueling oasis on the airfield's tarmac.