Flushing acid down the toilet: lab cleanup forces US 287 shutdown and town evacuation July 20, 2018
By Rachel Louise Just, Reporter
Conditions inside the laboratory. Image provided by Montana DEQ.
Conditions in the bathroom inside the laboratory (chemicals were reportedly flushed down the toilet and into a septic tank). Photo credit: EPA
Conditions inside the laboratory. Photo credit: EPA
Dilapidated homestead structure containing Perchloric Acid that is exposed to the elements. Photo credit: EPA
Missoula County Explosives Ordinance Disposal Team preparing for action. July 17, 2018. Photo credit: EPA The closure of a highway and forced evacuation of residents have shaken up the small ranching and farming town of Norris, pop. 109. The town sits about 40 minutes southeast of Bozeman, Montana.
On July 17th, residents in Norris were alerted to the efforts of a federal hazardous substance cleanup in town when a mandatory evacuation was ordered and Highway 287 – which winds through the small community – was closed.
Many of the residents likely wouldn’t have paid much attention to the cleanup at all, had it not been for a group of chemicals that were so dangerous, they had to be blown-up onsite by a bomb squad.
The environmental officials' original plan for the Norris Lab was to move all of the chemicals to a secure site in an isolated field where they would be detonated safely. However, some of the chemicals were so volatile that the risk of transporting them was too great, and experts decided to do a controlled detonation at the site of the lab.
Says On-Scene Coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Craig Myer, the chemicals are “so sensitive that even opening the container, the friction from the cap moving, can be enough to initiate an explosion.”
With the lab only about 200 feet from the town's only intersection, gas station, and highway, officials had no choice but to order the mandatory evacuation of some residents and the temporary shutdown of the highway.
Norris Labs had worked as an assay testing facility for the mining industry until recently, when it was shut down after an Occupational Health and Safety Administration inspection.
The lab was first reported by the county to the Department of Environmental Quality as an unsafe working condition. After DEQ's initial investigation and assessment, the agency worked with the owner to determine if he could hire an environmental consultant for a site assessment and cleanup plan. The owner said he was not able to do so, due to financial issues.
After determining the site to be an urgent case and too large for the Montana DEQ to handle alone, the EPA's On-Scene Coordinators were called in for an emergency response.
According to the EPA, there were hundreds of improperly stored or abandoned highly volatile chemicals (including a high number of acids) found throughout the facility and its grounds.
The owner had even made a last-ditch attempt to dispose of the hazardous material by flushing it down the lab’s toilet.
The soil around the site is now contaminated with the laboratory’s byproducts and a storm drain from the facility leads directly to nearby Hot Springs Creek.
Officials say that the efforts to clean up the hazardous waste have gone as well as they possibly could have.
Shasta Steinweden, an Environmental Enforcement Specialist from DEQ Montana, said that she was pleased with the teamwork displayed throughout the cleanup. “It’s been an amazing collaboration between the local county officials, the state, and the federal agency. So, there’s been a lot of players involved and we’ve worked really well together.”
OSHA is continuing its investigation into the facility and deciding what action to take against Norris Labs.
Though clean-up efforts will continue for the next few days, residents have all been allowed to return to their homes.
For the Norris Lab EPA site profile: https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=12770