Toxic chemicals from airshow crash polluting southern Dallas airport

When two vintage warbirds fatally collided during the Wings Over Dallas airshow in November, the resulting crash left the ground at Dallas Executive Airport soaked with numerous toxic chemicals that remain there today.

A troubling soil contamination report of the site says the southern side of the airport was polluted with aircraft fuel, additives and firefighting foam used to subdue the resulting fireball at levels that exceed state thresholds, triggering the need for additional assessment.

Given what we learned in reading this report, the city must ensure the site is cleaned up. It’s unclear, though, whether taxpayers will cover the cost or if it will fall to the Commemorative Air Force, which hosted the show. The city considers the CAF responsible, but a CAF spokesperson told us that it’s “unclear what the CAF’s role in the project will be and what it will cost.”

That’s a problem, and the city should be cautious about greenlighting future air shows without ensuring that taxpayers aren’t on the hook.

The February report, prepared by a city contractor and provided to us by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, listed several “chemicals of concern” found in soil samples, including lead and a particularly harmful category of toxins called polyfluorinated substances often found in firefighting foam.

As a result of the soil contamination study, the TCEQ has ordered the city of Dallas to conduct additional assessment of the site, particularly to determine whether surrounding property may be affected by the contamination.

City spokeswoman Lauren Rounds told us that its assessment will be completed in August and that remediation could begin “as soon as September.” She further said that “there are no threatened water wells, and the impacted soil is wholly contained on secure airport property.”

Still, we note that the polluted ground is located just blocks away from a residential neighborhood near State Highway 67 and South Hampton Road. And a city staff memo sent to the City Council’s transportation committee in May reported that the contamination poses “a potential environmental and human health risk.”

Concerning chemicals found among 40 samples contain concentrations that far exceed the TCEQ’s Texas Risk Reduction Program assessment thresholds. When those thresholds are exceeded, further study is required.

For example, the report found lead concentrations at four times the state threshold.

Six pilots and crew members died when a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collided midair during the CAF’s airshow. While the official cause of the accident is still under investigation, we know that a potentially harmful amount of chemicals remains an issue.

It’s critical to get this land cleaned up so no one else is hurt.