BURLINGTON — State environmental regulators said they were going far enough to curb runoff pollution from the local airport with a proposed new wastewater-release permit, refuting criticism leveled at them at a public hearing here Tuesday.

        R. Bruce Scott, environmental-engineering branch manager for the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water, said the issue of runoff is a “matter of compliance” by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, not of tougher standards.

        “We've been working on this with the airport for some time, but unfortunately, this does take some time,” Mr. Scott said. “We feel that the draft we put together is protective of the streams, and that's why we put it out there.”

        The public meeting was held to gather comments on the draft permit, which will update a permit issued to the airport in 1997. State regulators have fined the airport $125,000 since 1993 for continually allowing de-icing fluid — primarily ethylene glycol and propylene glycol — to seep into Elijah and Gunpowder creeks.

        Both Northern Kentucky waterways have have been on the state's impaired list since at least 1996, primarily because of the release of de-icing fluid, which can sap water of oxygen and thereby limit marine life.

        Mr. Scott said the comments gathered at the meeting Tuesday — attended by about 20 environmentalists and airport staff members — would be answered individually, and if necessary, the proposed five-year permit could be changed. He said that process could take up to three months. Until then, the airport will operate under the previous permit, which expired in March.

        Several members of area environmental groups Tuesday praised the airport for its efforts since the initial fines — efforts that have included $5 million spent on several retention devices, including 10 areas where de-icing fluid is collected.

        The airport also plans to spend another $20 million over the next 10 years to improve facilities even further by installing its own waste-treatment plant because local water-treatment officials say they can no longer accept wastewater from the facility.

        The airport uses 300,000 to 600,000 gallons of de-icing fluid a year, and the proposed permit calls for the facility to release anywhere from 4 to 10 milligrams per liter of water of potentially toxic chemicals.

        Despite the improvements at the airport, many residents said the pollution was worse than it's been in the nine years water quality has been monitored. They blamed the water division and what they called its lax permitting program. “The airport is obviously serious about (removing the creeks from the state's impaired list) and it's about time the division of water gets serious too,” said Heather Mayfield, project director for the Northern Kentucky Water Sentinels, an offshoot of the Sierra Club.

        She said the new permit should include ways to track any improvements in the water quality of the streams, while others who spoke said the permit should put total load limits in place, and not just concentrate limits, and that the permit should include a fine structure for when the airport violates its release limits.

        “I'm here to dispel any notion that we're close,” said Marc Hult of Covington, director of the Licking River Watershed Watch. “There are still fundamental problems with these streams, and they're still caused by the airport.”
        Cincinnati Enquirer file photo Environmentalists and airport officials are looking for ways to keep de-icing chemicals out of nearby creeks.

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