Months after gasoline spill, company continues to remove contaminated soil

Months after a 12-inch pipe spilled 250,000 gallons of gasoline near Anthony, New Mexico, the company responsible continues to excavate contaminated soil.

“We are continuing to focus on the excavation of gasoline-impacted soil, continuing to investigate the impacts on groundwater,” said Allen Fore, who manages public affairs for Kinder Morgan.

As KVIA reported in January, cleanup crews continued to clean up the area weeks later. Speaking before commissioners on Tuesday, Fore said they are still working seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

He said the company has removed 15,500 cubic yards of soil, which is the equivalent of about 1,500 large dump trucks or almost five Olympic-sized swimming pools.

“We are confident that the material is not hazardous,” Fore said.

Fore told Commissioner Ramon Gonzalez that Kinder Morgan has made arrangements with several of the residents to find permanent housing offsite from the spill. He would not detail which residents negotiated with the company.

“The odor was strong,” said Rosa Fierro told ABC-7 in January in her native language of Spanish. Her home was right next to the leak.

“We hope to have excavation activities completed by the end of March,” Fore said. “That is not certain. The bottom line is, we’re going to continue to do the work necessary until we’re complete, but that is roughly our current target date: the end of March.”

Commissioners thanked the company for continuing to return to the commission meetings for monthly updates on the project. Kinder Morgan said the cause of the leak is still under investigation.

“The reporting is not complete,” Fore said. What we don’t want to do is have inaccurate or incomplete information out there that is without context.”