Maryland environmental officials investigating jet fuel leak at Joint Base Andrews

The Maryland Department of the Environment is investigating the leak of thousands of gallons of jet fuel at Joint Base Andrews.

State environment officials said that 32,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from a refueling system at the air base in Prince George’s County between January and March.

The part of the system causing the leak is now shut down so that contractor Clean Harbors can investigate the failure and clean it up.

Joint Base Andrews said Monday that about 22,000 gallons of jet fuel were lost, and that the leak was discovered when the smell of fuel and a sheen atop a part of Piscataway Creek inside the base were discovered on March 23.

While Piscataway Creek feeds into the Potomac River, state officials said that drinking water drawn from the Potomac is unaffected by the fuel spill because the intake pipes are upstream from where the leak occurred.

Base officials told WJLA-TV that the sheen was found near stormwater outlets, separate from drinking water infrastructure.

The two sides chalked up the discrepancy between the two leak estimates differently. Maryland officials said the base “reports it was able to capture 10,000 gallons of fuel before it reached Piscataway Creek.”

A base spokesperson told WTOP-FM that the 10,000-gallon difference can be chalked up to “normal fluctuations due to temperature changes for January and February and a faulty valve. The fuel from this fluctuation and faulty valve was contained entirely within the fuel system and was not discharged into the environment.”

The two sides also disagreed as to whether the base notified federal and state environmental officials quickly enough. The base said that it reported the fuel leak to relevant agencies including the Maryland Department of the Environment within the proper time frame.

State officials contended that while the leak was initially reported on March 23 after the odors and sheen were noticed, the extent of the fuel spill was not fully disclosed until last Wednesday.

State officials also said the leak detection system on the base failed numerous times between January and March, and that contamination prevention systems failed twice earlier this month when rain caused the collapse of a containment dam.

“While Maryland values its deep ties to federal defense installations across the state, contaminating Maryland’s land and water is unacceptable,” Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena Mcilwain said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment said that they have ordered Joint Base Andrews to conduct a soil investigation to find out where the spilled fuel is going, install monitoring wells, fix affected parts of the soil, and to provide daily updates on the cleanup efforts.