Rep. Melanie Stansbury, my congresswoman, is throwing her considerable political and water policy clout behind efforts to poke the U.S. Air Force into action on its malingering fuel spill on Albuquerque’s south side. Dani Prokop had a nice overview of the issues this morning in Source NM:

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) called Tuesday for the Air Force to “quickly and decisively” act on the spill.

“Our communities deserve action, transparency, and collaboration from Air Force leadership, and I will be working to ensure the Air Force is responsive to the needs of our community,” she said in an emailed statement.

The details of the current dispute between the New Mexico Environment Department and the Air Force are a bit arcane, involving an argument over the adequacy of the Air Force’s sampling plans for the site. But the deeper issue remains a lack of progress on a significant threat to our groundwater that has been lingering for far too long.

If we can’t get the sampling right, how are we going to clean it up?