Fallon jet-fuel line is checked for leaks

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

A jet-fuel pipeline is being tested in the wake of 14 cases of childhood leukemia diagnosed over the past three years in Fallon.

A Houston company, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, owns the fuel line leading into Fallon, a rural community 50 miles east of Reno. The company's vice president, Bill White, said Monday that a portion of the line is being checked for leaks.

White said his company has hired Tracer Research Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., to look for leaks or seeps of jet fuel in a 15-mile segment of the 63-mile-long pipe leading into the Fallon Naval Air Station.

Jet fuel is a suspect in the 14 cases of leukemia in children ranging in age from 2 to 19 years old. Other suspected causes range from pesticide exposure to radiation and even household products, Nevada health officials have said.

Tracer Research crews were injecting a nontoxic, nonradioactive tracer into the gas line late Monday, Pierce said. The test, which poses no danger to the public, can detect very small leaks. It will take about two weeks to complete the test and results are expected at the end of the month.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection approved the inert substance inserted into the pipeline.

Kinder Morgan purchased the Fallon pipeline in March 1998. Since then, the company has not discovered any leaks, and a search of past records does not indicate a fuel leak, spokesman Larry Pierce said.

"What we are doing is something above and beyond what we normally do for pipeline maintenance," Pierce said.

A minor spill did occur at the air station during routine maintenance in December 1998, when jet fuel was being transferred from the pipeline to a truck. About 20 to 40 gallons of the fuel spilled onto the ground. The contaminated soil was removed immediately.