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Ethylene dibromide is highly soluble, toxic and carcinogenic.

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center, which is overseeing the remediation project for the Air Force, did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment on the NMED notification.

The fuel leak, first detected in 1999, came from pipelines beneath the base’s former bulk fuels depot. The leak is estimated to have seeped between 6 million and 24 million gallons of fuel.

Since the leak’s discovery, the Air Force, NMED, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and environmental groups have sought out ways to stop the spread of the “fuel plume” moving toward the city’s wells.

Scientists working for the agencies dealing with the problem have estimated it could take anywhere from five to 40 years for the EDB to reach the nearest drinking water well.

Although the Air Force has installed monitoring wells and various systems to extract the pollutants, other stakeholders have pushed for faster and more effective remediation efforts.

The goal of the interim remediation plan – called the EDB Interim Measure – is to stabilize and collapse the fuel plume while final corrective action measures are selected, according to NMED.

Although NMED extended deadlines for the plan’s submission last summer, those extensions did not remove the expectation for an EDB Interim Measure to be in place by Dec. 31, according to NMED officials.

Thursday’s notice of violation requires the Air Force to submit an EDB Interim Measure Implementation Plan for approval that outlines the more expansive cleanup efforts.