Crews have begun cleaning up the asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment on June 24.
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers extracting the now gooey material from the river water by rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.
Officials said that a bridge over the river collapsed as a train crossed it early last Saturday near the town of Columbus, and 10 of its 17 cars fell into the water, spilling hot liquid asphalt and molten sulfur into the water.
Six of the cars in the water carried asphalt liquified petroleum, a sticky black liquid form of petroleum used for paving; three cars carried liquid molten sulfur, used in making products such as rubber and detergent and in petroleum refining; and one car carried scrap metal.
State and federal officials said no toxic gases had been detected in the air downwind of the derailment, and no petroleum hydrocarbons or sulfur were found in the preliminary water quality sampling.
Spokesperson for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Kevin Stone, said that both substances do not dissolve when they enter water. Both materials were expected to cool and harden when exposed to the cold water, meaning there was no expected threat to the public or downstream water supplies.
“Water quality testing will continue until the cleanup is complete, and at this time, there are no known risks to the public drinking water,” he added at the time.
Stillwater County Department of Emergency Services Chief David Stamey said amid the cleanup efforts on Sunday, “We reached a milestone today with the opening of agricultural ditches. This is imperative for the nearby ranches that rely on the Yellowstone River for their operations.”
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA, and Montana Rail Link—the entities managing the cleanup—said more asphalt product was released on June 30 as a rail car was being removed from the river.
“Initial assessments indicate the release was minimal based on the amount of material believed to remain in the impacted car,” the statement said.
Stillwater County Emergency Services members, the Sheriff’s Office, county commissioners, and Columbus Fire and Rescue were at the scene and have been working together, along with Montana Rail Link and state and federal agencies.
“The present operations focus is safely responding to the emergency, controlling all releases, and mitigating impacts. Throughout the response, MRL will work with local, state, and federal partners to assess impacts to natural resources and to develop appropriate cleanup, removal, and restoration efforts,” MRL said at the time of the spill, reported by KULR8.
Yellowstone County Disaster and Emergency Services issued a press release stating that water treatment facilities in Laurel, Billings, Lockwood, and irrigation companies had begun emergency measures for hazardous materials, including shutting down river head gates.
To recover the remaining cars in the river, crews were disassembling the west segment of the bridge. During the press conference, Montana Rail Link President Joe Racicot said that the company would pick up “100 percent” of the clean-up costs.
“Montana Rail Link remains committed to addressing any potential impacts to the area as a result of this incident,” Montana Rail Link spokesperson Andy Garland said in a statement.
Alexis Bonogofsky, whose family’s ranch was impacted by an oil spill on the Yellowstone River near Billings in 2011, took pictures of the refined petroleum product covering rocks and sandbars at the spill site on Saturday. She also snapped an image of a bird that had died in the black substance.“This killdeer walked across the asphalt, which had heated up in the sun, and it got stuck and died with its head buried in the asphalt,“ Bonogofsky wrote in the caption of an image she posted on social media. ”You could tell where it had tried to pull itself out.”
