Mar. 23—A spill at Amazon's hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport dumped nearly 2,000 gallons of jet fuel, but state officials say it was cleaned up without polluting the surrounding area.
The spill March 15 was caused by "mechanical failure" and was contained to the concrete underneath the plane, according to John Mura, spokesman for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. He said firefighters flushed the fuel into a drainage system that feeds into an oil and water separator, and an environmental contractor pumped the fluid out.
"There is no indication that water ways were impacted," he said in an email.
The cabinet's Emergency Response Team went to the scene, Mura said.
"The incident was handled in accordance with our approved environmental containment and remediation plans and at no point did it present any safety concerns to personnel or operations at our facility," Amazon spokesperson Alisa Carroll said in an emailed statement.
The spill reportedly happened when a check valve malfunctioned while a fuel pump was being changed.
Amazon launched its operations at the airport in Hebron in August, saying it expected to operate a dozen flights out of its 600-acre facility by the end of last year.
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