AT LEAST TWO TANKER CARS DERAILED FROM A CANADIAN PACIFIC TRAIN AS IT TRAVELED THROUGH EAST MOLINE, ILLINOIS.

MAY 4, 2015

MOLINE, ILLINOIS

The derailment was reported where the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks crossed 12th Avenue, between the East Moline Water Treatment Plant and the entrance to the John Deere Harvester Works, Monday morning, May 4, 2015.

Initial information indicated there were 17 tanker cars plus two engines on the eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway train; two tanker cars appeared to be off the tracks and a third tanker car may have also jumped the rails.  All of the affected cars remained upright.

A later update from a Canadian Pacific Railroad spokesman indicated two cars derailed as a 16-car train traveled at a low speed at about 9:30 a.m.

“Nobody was injured, there are no spills, and no public safety issues,” said Andy Cummings of CP railroad.

The hazmat placard on one of the derailed cars was numbered 1219, indicating it carried isopropanol or isopropyl alcohol; the hazmat placard on another derailed car was numbered 2218 indicated it carried stabilized acrylic acid.

Traffic was still able to get past the railroad activity on 12th Avenue.

The cause of the incident remained under investigation, Cummings said.

WORKER CRITICALLY INJURED BY FALL IN WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS AT HARLEY-DAVIDSON RENOVATION SITE

MAY 4, 2015

WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS

A man working on the Harley-Davidson renovation in Woodstock was in critical condition after he fell 12 feet, Woodstock firefighters said.

The man, who firefighters could not identify, was working on the mezzanine about 9:45 a.m. at 2235 S. Eastwood Drive when he fell, Woodstock Fire Protection District Capt. Michael Hill said.

“There was a large hole in the floor that it looked like he stepped over by mistake and fell through,” Hill said.

When crews arrived, they found the man unconscious, Hill said. They transported him to Centegra Hospital-Woodstock where he was flown to OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford in critical condition, Hill said

9 WORKERS HOSPITALIZED, 1 IN CRITICAL CONDITION, AFTER ACCIDENT AT LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY

MAY 4, 2015

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP)

A Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was in critical condition Monday after being burned in an accident that also sent eight other workers at the nuclear weapons research facility to the hospital.
Lab spokesman Kevin Roark confirmed the accident happened Sunday while the employees were doing preventative maintenance at an electrical substation that provides power to the lab's Neutron Science Center.
It was not immediately clear what happened, but Roark said an accident investigation board will review the incident. He did not identify the worker who was badly burned.
Lab Director Charlie McMillian issued a statement Monday, saying the worker's family had the support and sympathy of the entire workforce at the lab.
"Nothing is more important at this time than his well-being," McMillian said.
Nine workers were sent to the Los Alamos Medical Center and seven were treated and released the same day, said medical center spokeswoman Mary Beth Maasan.
One patient was transported to the burn unit at University of New Mexico Hospital and another was admitted to the Los Alamos Medical Center in stable condition, she said.
A memo sent to lab employees stated that portions of the Neutron Science Center are without power and employees have been urged to work at home or contact their supervisors regarding their plans.
Los Alamos is one of the nation's premiere nuclear weapons research labs, and it's where J. Robert Oppenheimer worked on the atomic bomb in the 1940s.
Built in the late 1960s, the Neutron Science Center contains a linear accelerator that's used for everything from national security-related projects to health and materials science.
The center has been cited in several federal safety audits, including for a 2012 incident in which a worker unknowingly opened a canister containing uncontrolled radioactive material.
Operations there were shut down in early 1999 after a series of safety accidents.
Roark said the electrical substation where Sunday's accident happened is adjacent to the center and that the accelerator facility wasn't involved.

TRACE AMOUNT OF DRILLING FLUID FOUND IN PENNSYLVANIA DRINKING-WATER WELL IN 2010 CASE. THE GAS COMPANY, CHESAPEAKE ENERGY, WHILE DENYING CULPABILITY, BOUGHT THEIR PROPERTIES NEAR WYALUSING AS PART OF A $1.6 MILLION SETTLEMENT

MAY 4, 2015

Toxic fluids used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing likely escaped an unlined borehole and migrated thousands of feet into a residential drinking-water supply in Pennsylvania, according to a study published Monday.

At least three water wells in Bradford County, located in the heart of the Marcellus Shale drilling boom, were found to be contaminated with dangerous levels of methane and other substances in 2010. The incident was one of several involving Chesapeake Energy that prompted state environmental regulators to levy a record $1 million fine against the driller in May 2011.

Penn State University researchers detected in one of the water wells a minute amount of a chemical compound often found in drilling and fracking fluids, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The compound, 2-BE, has a wide variety of industrial and household uses, and is commonly found in paint, cosmetics and cleaners, but the authors identified gas drilling as the most probable source.

"This is the first documented and published demonstration of toxic compounds escaping from uncased boreholes in shale gas wells and moving long distances" into drinking water, said Susan Brantley, one of the study's authors.

The contamination took place before Pennsylvania enacted stricter standards for gas well construction in 2011. Brantley and a co-author, David Yoxtheimer, said the newer regulations might have prevented it.

Researchers did not implicate the fracking technique itself. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves the high-pressure injection of millions of gallons of water, along with sand and chemical additives, deep underground to break apart shale rock and free the gas trapped inside it. The industry and many federal and state officials say fracking is safe when done properly, but environmental groups contend the risk of contamination is too great.

The tainted water in the residential wells almost certainly did not migrate upward from the Marcellus — a rock formation more than a mile underground — after fracking, Brantley said. The fluid did not contain a high level of salt, a signature of fracking wastewater.

Instead, it's likely that drilling fluid escaped the borehole while crews were first drilling the gas well, Brantley and Yoxtheimer said. Another possibility, though one the researchers consider less likely, is that it stemmed from a leaky drilling waste pit.

"The new results are consistent with what we've found in the Marcellus and in the Barnett," a shale gas field in Texas, said Rob Jackson, a Stanford University environmental scientist not involved in the study. "Problems are especially likely where you combine poor well integrity with shallow bedrock fractures."

The Marcellus Shale Coalition said the researchers did not prove that gas drilling put 2-BE in the water well. The trade group also said the industry is getting better at protecting water supplies.

"It's absolutely critical to acknowledge that important technological advancements have been and continue to be made, along with the fact that Pennsylvania's regulations were dramatically strengthened over the past several years ... aimed at protecting groundwater, which is a top industry priority," Travis Windle, a spokesman, said in a statement.

The three homeowners whose wells were tainted sued Chesapeake. The gas company, while denying culpability, bought their properties near Wyalusing as part of a $1.6 million settlement.

FALLS ARE THE LEADING CAUSES OF DEATHS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: WORKER DIES AFTER FALLING OFF ROOF OF 7-STORY SKOKIE BUILDING

MAY 4, 2015

SKOKIE, ILLINOIS

A man died after he fell from a roof Monday morning in north suburban Skokie.

The victim, a male of unknown age, was working on the roof of an apartment building at 5120 Galitz St. when he fell about 11:15 a.m., according to a statement from Skokie police. The building is seven stories tall.

He suffered severe injuries and was unresponsive when authorities arrived, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was taken to Skokie Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.

Source: http://chicago.cbslocal.com