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Runway pressure-wash sediment tests show no toxicity; county to file permits and improve BMPs
Summary
Airport manager and environmental consultant told the Board that lab analysis of runway pressure-wash spoils found no hazardous contamination; FDEP said an NPDES permit was not required for the described activity but the county will pursue permit and best-management practices.
Franklin County’s airport manager and a contracted environmental consultant told commissioners that sediment collected during runway pressure-washing did not meet hazardous thresholds in laboratory testing, and that county staff will nevertheless pursue formal stormwater protections.
Airport Manager Steve Kirschenbaum recounted resident concerns that pressure-wash runoff could contain contaminants. Backroads environmental consultant Scott Davis sampled mounds of the runway spoils and sent them to McGlynn Laboratories in Tallahassee. "In two weeks of analyzing it with his methods, he did not determine that there was anything hazardous in any of that material," Davis reported to the board.
Davis said he discussed methodology with the chemist and that FDEP advised the county the described pressure-wash activity did not, as configured, trigger a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Kirschenbaum told commissioners he will nonetheless pursue several steps: file for an NPDES permit when contractors are repairing aircraft on site, develop a stormwater protection plan, implement best-management-practice procedures for mobile oil spills and ensure contractors follow the county’s guidance.
Commissioners asked that all analytical and agency correspondence be delivered to the county coordinator and attached to the public agenda so documents are available to the public.
Why it matters: residents raised drinking-water concerns; the lab results reduce the immediate hazard concern, but the county’s decision to add permitting and BMPs responds to community worries and will formalize protections at the small rural airport.
