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Tests identify airport contamination
HELENA (AP) — Soil tests confirm that spillage of jet fuel at the Hamilton airport led to three plumes of contamination, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality said Friday.
On July 1, 4,500 gallons of fuel spilled during a fuel transfer at Northstar Aviation. Fuel was being moved from a storage tank above ground to a truck used for fueling airplanes.
The three plumes are above a shallow aquifer, DEQ said. The contamination is northwest and southeast of the maintenance building at the Ravalli County Airport, the agency said.
"The lab results confirm what we expected as far as the extent and magnitude of the spill," said Nick Sovner, environmental science specialist for DEQ.
The department said environmental cleanup will include soil excavation, some of it before the winter, with the contaminated soil probably going to the Missoula landfill. Officials expect continued sampling of wells that serve the airport maintenance building and a U.S. Forest Service building nearby. Testing of those wells has revealed no contamination.
In the initial response to the spill, about 800 gallons of spilled fuel were removed.
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