35,000 Gallons of Oil Spills After Montana Train Derailment
Three tank cars leaked an estimated 35,000 gallons of oil after a train hauling crude from North Dakota derailed in rural northeastern Montana, the latest in a series of wrecks across the U.S. and Canada, authorities said Friday.
No one was reported injured in the accident Thursday night that
temporarily led to the evacuation of some homes and followed recent oil
train crashes including a 2013 derailment in Quebec that exploded and
killed 47 people.
A hazardous-materials team contained the spill with earthen dams, and
oil did not affect any waterways, according to a preliminary report by
Michael Turnbull of the U.S. Department of Transportation to Montana's
Public Service Commission. The report was based on information provided
by BNSF that was still being confirmed, Federal Railroad Administration
spokesman Michael Booth said.
Unlike many prior accidents, no explosions or fire were reported after the Burlington Northern Santa Fe
train bound for Washington state derailed about 5 miles east of the
small town of Culbertson, near the North Dakota border, officials said.
But about 30 people were ordered to leave their homes within a half-mile
radius, Turnbull said. That evacuation order was lifted Friday morning.
There was no immediate explanation of what caused more than 20 cars to
topple from the train. It originated in Trenton, North Dakota and had
106 loaded crude oil tank cars, two buffer cars and four locomotives,
according to BNSF and state officials. The tank cars typically haul
about 30,000 gallons of oil apiece.
Two days earlier, a BNSF train carrying a mixed cargo derailed about 20
miles away from Thursday's accident, damaging about a mile of track.
There was no connection between the derailments, railroad spokesman Matt
Jones said.
The latest accident knocked over a power line, and firefighters planned
to spray foam on the wreckage to prevent a fire, Roosevelt County Chief
Deputy Sheriff Corey Reum said.
"We're lucky it didn't ignite," Reum said.
Officials from the Federal Railroad Administration and BNSF could not say when the track had last been inspected.
Under a rule enacted in April, oil being shipped from North Dakota must
be treated to reduce the chances of an explosion — by removing some of
the volatile gases found in crude from the region. It was not
immediately known if the shipment involved in Thursday's accident had
gone through that process.
It forced the closure of U.S. Highway 2, the region's main artery, which
was expected to stay shut through much of Friday, Reum said.
A BNSF hazardous materials team arrived at the scene at about 3:30 a.m.
Friday, more than nine hours after the derailment, according to the
Montana Department of Emergency Services. Officials said other railroad
personnel arrived Thursday night in the first hours after the accident.
Investigators from the Department of Transportation were on site Friday,
according to the agency, along with police and other responders.
Roosevelt County is situated along one of the main corridors for Bakken
oil shipments bound for refineries on the West Coast. About 12 BNSF oil
trains a week pass through the county, according to information
submitted by the railroad to state emergency officials.
U.S. transportation officials recently extended an order for railroads
to notify states about shipments of hazardous crude-oil shipments and
put in place new rules that require sturdier construction of tank cars
hauling hazardous liquids. Critics have said the rules do not do enough
to keep cars on the tracks and prevent derailments.
In addition to the 2013 Quebec accident, in which much of the town of
Lac-Megantic was incinerated, trains hauling crude from the Bakken
region of North Dakota and Montana have been involved in fiery
derailments in Alabama, Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma and
North Dakota.