Kotzebue Former Hospital-School Pipeline Release

Site Narrative

Site History

The Indian Health Service (IHS) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) operated a hospital and school in Kotzebue before Alaska became a state. The hospital and school were heated by a system of tanks and above and underground pipelines that went throughout the school and hospital properties. During the 1960s and 1970s there were reports of ruptures and leaks from the pipeline. Fuel seeped into the school basement, ditches, and local wells.

DEC contracted Shannon and Wilson to conduct an environmental site assessment in 1989. Shannon and Wilson sampled the beach, soil, and water, and inventory all remaining tanks. Through the years, multiple sampling and inventory events have occurred:

Current Status

The IHS and Maniilaq Association funded the removal of an old underground storage tank from the Northside of the Ferguson building in August 2019. Workers excavated the tank, dug up 16 cubic yards of petroleum contaminated soil, and transported the soil to the Kikiktagruk Inupiat Corporation (KIC) landfarm for treatment. In 2020, an additional 170 cubic yards of contaminated soil was excavated from Lot 4 and placed into the KIC landfarm. The contaminated soils were tilled periodically throughout the summer season for remediation. Analytical results indicated that the 2019 soils were below DEC Method Two Table B1/B2 Soil Cleanup Levels in 2023. As of 2025, the soils excavated in 2020 were still being remediated at the KIC landfarm. No additional soil excavation has been conducted at the site due to proximity of buildings and utilities to the source area.

Groundwater Monitoring

Groundwater monitoring was reinitiated in 2019, funded by the IHS and BIA. In 2019, ten groundwater monitoring wells were sampled, located on Lots 3, 4, 5, and Tract 4A. Resutls from eight of the ten wells detected petroleum contamination. Two wells, MW-1 and MW-6, had free product (fuel floating on the surface of water table). Both IHS and BIA have sampling groundwater monitoring wells at the site from 2019 through 2025. Free product continues to be detected in wells MW-1 and MW-6.

Additional information will be provided on the 2025 groundwater sampling as results become available.