The Washington State Department of Ecology has imposed an enforcement order against the Spokane International Airport related to contamination by PFAS, a chemical that was previously common in firefighting foam used at airports, after months of negotiations broke down.
PFAS chemicals were first detected at Fairchild Air Force Base in 2017, leading to a series of well tests to determine the spread of the contamination. That work is ongoing. SIA conducted tests of its own wells in 2017 and 2019 and found contamination, but did not report the results. The contamination was found in multiple wells in the northeast part of the property and the southwest part of the property.
DOE Eastern Region Director Brook Beeler said DOE didn’t become aware of the contamination at SIA until last year. A citizen received the contamination information as part of a public records request to the airport and then notified DOE. When the contamination was first discovered, PFAS contamination was not required to be reported to the state, Beeler said. However, that changed in 2021 when reporting PFAS contamination became mandatory. At that time SIA should have reported the known contamination, Beeler said.
Research is still underway about the danger of PFAS, which is known as a forever chemical because of how long it lingers in the environment. It is thought to be tied to certain types of cancer as well as high cholesterol in children, low birth weight in babies and thyroid issues.
DOE and SIA began negotiating an agreed order to study and clean up the contamination on October 9. The process was supposed to last for 60 days, but SIA requested several extensions. The first extension, requested in a letter to DOE on November 9, asked for extra time to hire technical experts. Ecology granted the extension, giving SIA until Feb. 8.
SIA asked for another extension in a letter dated Feb. 7, citing the need to have more time to refine the proposed scope of work as well as get guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration about the possibility of using airport revenue to pay for cleanup. DOE Site Manager Jeremy Schmidt said SIA had already brought up the FAA issue months ago and he would only grant a 30-day extension to March 11, warning that there would be no further extensions.
“As this topic was raised by SIA more than two months ago, Ecology believes ample time has passed and concludes this evaluation must be completed within 30 days,” Schmidt wrote. “To date, Ecology has not encountered the issue of certification at our other airport cleanup projects.”
Beeler said that Ecology met with representatives of SIA and the FAA to discuss the airport’s concerns. “We met with them and the FAA and don’t believe that’s an issue,” she said.
At one point the airport offered to move forward with the project before an agreed order was signed, but that would not have worked, Beeler said. “That work has to be done under Ecology’s oversight to make sure they’re following the state requirements,” she said.
In a letter dated March 7, SIA attorney Brian Werst asserted that Ecology’s proposed clean-up order “conflicts with the Airport’s obligations under federal law.” Werst said SIA had not yet received any guidance from the FAA.
In response, Schmidt wrote a lengthy, detailed letter on March 12 notifying SIA that the order that had been negotiated would be imposed on March 29. The plan outlines well testing, drilling new water test sites and a schedule for studying clean up possibilities. After that, Ecology will help pick the best clean up option and work will begin on it, Beeler said. “We’re asking the airport to develop a plan for studying it,” she said.
It is important that the work start as soon as possible, Beeler said, particularly since it has already been several years since the contamination was discovered. “Further delay just isn’t acceptable,” she said. “Our correspondence has been firm in really laying out the requirements. This is happening, one way or another.”
Schmidt’s March 12 letter points out that Ecology made several changes to the order to address the airport’s concerns. “Ecology does not feel that a funding concern should prohibit SIA from entering into an AO, given the provisions of the agreement,” he wrote. “SIA has not provided any suggestions or options to address their concern outside of conducting remedial action work without Ecology oversight.”
The letter notes that the PFAS levels found on airport property are more than 500 times higher than allowed and that SIA kept this information hidden for years. “This lack of required notification to Ecology has delayed site cleanup work by more than two years,” Schmidt wrote.
Schmidt also noted that while SIA has expressed concerns about funding, it did not apply for a DOE Oversight Remedial Action Grant that would have paid 50 percent of all remedial action costs for cleanup.
SIA spokesman Todd Woodard declined to comment, but issued a statement in early April about Ecology’s decision. The statement said that the airport has been “meeting and communicating in good faith” with Ecology. “Despite the challenges and inconsistencies, we are proceeding with reasonable actions to investigate the extent of any PFAS on our property to assess whether there are pathways that result in human exposure and to develop plans to mitigate exposure exceeding appropriate standards,” the statement reads.
The statement also said that the airport received the guidance it was waiting for from the FAA on March 29, the same day the order was imposed by Ecology. “We are disappointed that Ecology has chosen to issue an enforcement order without waiting for and reviewing the guidance from the FAA,” the statement reads.
However, the statement does not say what the guidance said and Beeler said SIA has refused to provide Ecology with a copy for them to review. “We’ve also attempted to get the information from the FAA and have not received it,” she said. “We sure would like to have that information too.”
The FAA declined to comment and did not respond to a FOIA request for a copy of the guidance.
Despite the conflict, Beeler said she expects the airport to follow the imposed order, most of which had already been agreed to. “We expect them to move forward with the work,” she said. “They’ve agreed to the timelines. They’ve agreed to the scope and the scale. It needs to be done now. We can’t wait.”
The public is invited to review the enforcement order online at https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/16774. A public meeting to discuss the order and get input will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 6, at The Hub at 12703 W. 14th Avenue in Airway Heights. Comments can also be submitted via email to jeremy.schmidt@ecy.wa.gov. All comments should be submitted by May 27.
