Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation officials are seeking clarification to The Times story of Feb. 26, which stated Fort McDowell had confirmed to town officials that “tribal lands received no contamination” from the Nov. 17, 2013 fuel spill in Fountain Hills.

In an email to The Times, Mark Frank, acting environmental manager for Fort McDowell, asked for clarification of his statement to town officials.

“While the results of initial soils testing by Fort McDowell Environmental Department staff exhibited no violations of Arizona Department of Environmental Quality residential soil standards, they did exhibit detectable levels of chemicals commonly found in gasoline,” Frank said.

“While there were no ADEQ violations associated with the … gasoline spill … and … storm water runoff events, detectable levels of toluene, xylene and trimethylbenzene among others, were detected in soil samples and storm water samples taken on tribal lands.

“Additional soil samples will be taken in the near future (once clean-up efforts have been substantially completed) to determine what chemical levels remain on tribal lands.”

The Times was told by town Development Services Director Paul Mood and Environment Supervisor Raymond Rees that testing done by a consultant for the town indicated contaminate levels on tribal lands were so low they could not be attributed to the fuel spill, but could be a result of normal street and parking runoff.