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Airport environmental coordinator reports PFAS fingerprinting; MassDEP review ongoing
Summary
Madison Collins told commissioners that recent fingerprinting of monitoring wells suggests some western PFAS plumes are unlikely to originate from airport operations; MassDEP is reviewing the extended Phase 2 CSA addendum and additional testing or technical follow-up with consultants was requested.
Madison Collins, the airport's environmental coordinator, presented recent PFAS field and lab work and told the commission that staff believe groundwater fingerprinting suggests the western plumes are unlikely to originate from airport operations.
"We are not accountable to expanding the disposal site boundary to the west," Collins said, summarizing staff's argument based on groundwater flow direction and compound fingerprint differences among monitoring wells (ACT 25/26 vs ACT 27).
She walked commissioners through monitoring-well maps and ‘‘spider'graph' style'' PFAS signatures used to compare relative concentrations of PFOS, PFOA and related compounds in nanograms per liter. Collins said MassDEP requested an extended addendum to the Phase 2 Corrective Site Assessment (CSA) and is still reviewing the airport's documentation. Staff also reported hydrothermal alkaline treatment (HALT) samples were collected in late October from containment areas under the jet fuel tank and the loading rack.
Commissioners requested follow-up steps: have technical consultants (Michael, Jim and others) review whether signature matches exist between wells on both sides of Airport Road and confirm whether additional sampling is warranted. Mister Smith said home hook-ups that remain (21 Monahans, 83 Skyline, others) are being scheduled or quoted and that some connections should be completed this winter.
Next steps: staff will request further technical input from McFarland Johnson and the airport's Western team members, share test data with commissioners and await MassDEP's review outcomes before recommending changes to the disposal-site boundary. No new regulatory commitments or liabilities were established at the meeting.
