{"id":13558,"date":"2026-02-12T01:43:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/asbestos-cleanup-moves-forward-at-cortez-municipal-airport\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:38:50","slug":"asbestos-cleanup-moves-forward-at-cortez-municipal-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/asbestos-cleanup-moves-forward-at-cortez-municipal-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Asbestos cleanup moves forward at Cortez Municipal Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Cortez City Council awarded the operation contract of the Cortez Municipal Airport to the Cortez Flying Service over another company it had considered Tuesday evening.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Peeling paint and asbestos removal at the Cortez Municipal Airport buildings will begin soon using funds from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant as the city starts a long\u2011term effort to prepare the airport for potential future expansion.<\/p>\n

Separately, acquiring the funding to address on\u2011site fuel contamination remains on the city\u2019s to\u2011do list.<\/p>\n

Cortez officials are moving forward with the grant\u2011funded asbestos and lead\u2011paint cleanup project at the airport, totaling $221,540. The grant covers the full cost and requires no local match. However, it does not fund a second environmental issue that was discovered, said Economic Development Specialist Helen West. She said the fuel leakage will need to be addressed later through other funding sources.<\/p>\n

Officials said the contamination levels pose no risk to people, animals or drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to iterate all of the contamination levels were found to be very small and not risk to human health,\u201d West said. \u201cWe just want to be responsible and clean it up. So, when and if the airport is ever renovated, we\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The asbestos cleanup applies to parts of the airport terminal, the former and unoccupied Hertz rental car facility, and the airport\u2019s Fixed\u2011Base Operator\/Maintenance Hangar building. Each facility was built in 1951. The vacated Hertz facility has peeling orange paint where lead was found and will need abatement. The 5,200\u2011square\u2011foot building, which once had a booth for repainting vehicles, is now used for storage.<\/p>\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Municipal Airport properties were assessed for environmental contamination in 2024 along with three other municipalities in the Colorado Department of Health and Environment statewide assessment grant for brownfields. The 5,000-square-foot former Hertz rental car building, located at 23378 County Road G, is vacated as of now and used for storage. (Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fuel used for refueling and cleaning planes at the airport\u2019s FBO building leaked into the ground over time, causing minor soil and groundwater contamination.<\/p>\n

The city applied for EPA funding to clean this up as well but was denied because the agency determined the contamination occurred while the city owned the airport, making it a \u201cresponsible party\u201d under federal guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the FBO building, we contract out that service or lease it out. So, the city does not feel we are a responsible party, but with EPA, and a lot of federal agencies, they have very high requirements,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n

\"FBO
FBO and Maintenance Hangar Building, built in 1951. (Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

West emphasized that contamination levels are low and said officials are working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to identify additional funding sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get very worried about leakage into soil. But there\u2019s no connection to our drinking water or any runoff luckily. So, it looks pretty contained,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n

City Council must approve several federal grant appropriations, including the asbestos cleanup. A vote is expected at the end of the month or in March. West said the abatement contract will go out for bid, with construction likely in summer or fall.<\/p>\n

She said the city does not anticipate the cleanup affecting airport customers or flight service, though timelines could depend on contractor proposals.<\/p>\n

City seeks public input on cleanup<\/div>\n

West said the city is seeking public input at ClearGov.com<\/a> on the full Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives, a required step for federal grant-funded projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re required to put the ABCA out for public comment because this is a federal grant,\u201d West said. \u201cIt has to be posted for 30 days, so people can tell us what they think.\u201d<\/p>\n

awatson@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials say airport contamination poses no risk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13558"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77076,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558\/revisions\/77076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13558"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}