Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Chemical leak forces evacuation of 6,000 people
The Associated Press ^ | 3-6-05 | Leon D'souza

Posted on 03/06/2005 9:53:57 PM PST by The Chosen One

Edited on 03/06/2005 10:09:53 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]

SALT LAKE CITY -- A railcar leaking acid forced the closure of major highways and the evacuation of more than 6,000 people.

By late Sunday, about 5,000 of the 13,000 gallons of industrial waste had leaked into the ground, but South Salt Lake fire officials were hoping to pump out the rest within a few hours and end the evacuation.

There were no injuries, but the area downwind of the leak was evacuated because of fumes from the spill, Fire Chief Steve Foote said. Evacuation centers were set up at church meeting houses, but most of those evacuated were staying with friends or relatives.

The waste, eventually found to be hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, nitric and sulfuric acids, was discovered leaking about 6 a.m. and the tanker wall was becoming soft, Foote said Sunday night.

Officials brought in 6,500-gallon portable tank. They first planned to lift a hazmat technician in a cherry picker to the top of the tanker so he could attach a hose to the rail tanker and pump the acids into the portable tanks.

However, they changed their plans after a specialist from Las Vegas arrived and the latest idea was to pierce the side of the tank with remotely operated equipment and pump it into the portable tanks. "Once we have one tank that's filled and holding, we could lift the evacuation order," Foote said. The cherry-picker plan was being kept in mind as a backup.

The fire officials and Gov. Jon Huntsman expressed displeasure at the difficulty in determining exactly what was in the tanker. "It's tough to know how to respond if you don't know the contents of the bulk container," Huntsman said.

The leak was discovered while crews were loading chemicals into the parked railcar at a Union Pacific rail yard. Officials said the tanker car was owned by Kennecott Utah Copper and was sublet to Phillips Environmental, which could not tell them immediately what all was in the waste.

"We're going to be looking into that," Foote said. "When we ask a direct question, we expect a direct answer."

Eventually, tests determined what acids were in the waste, and Phillips Environmental provided verbal confirmation. Documents finally were delivered late Sunday.

The spilled acid has not yet been neutralized. Foote said authorities wanted to concentrate on the tanker first.

Officers closed 600 West from 2100 South to 2700 South. Northbound I-15 from 4500 South to 2100 South, the westbound I-80 off ramp to southbound I-15, and the southbound collector on I-15 up to westbound I-80 also were closed.

The area south and east of the rail yard was evacuated. A little less than one square mile recommended for evacuation, with less than half of that a mandatory evacuation area.

The acids were not full strength but still are highly toxic and can cause severe burns if they come in direct contact with the skin or eyes, and the fumes can cause respiratory problems.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: acidspill; chemicalspill; derailment; hazardousmaterial; railcar; saltlakecity; train; utah
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last
To: wildwood

LOL. You must have been here in August. The lake gets ripe in the late summer, and a northerly will cover the area with that lovely rotting scent. Most years we don't notice it, but some years it's pretty rude. A little touch of Tacoma in the mountains.


21 posted on 03/07/2005 4:37:48 AM PST by glock rocks (WYGIWYG)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Lokibob
According to Steve Foote, South Salt Lake fire chief, early reports said the car's contents included hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid.

Later, word came that what was in the tank was phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, hydrofluoric acid and ammonia, with the acid at only 10 percent concentration. Deseret News

22 posted on 03/07/2005 5:03:21 AM PST by glock rocks (WYGIWYG)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Nita Nupress
"Seriously, someone's head should roll for this. First responders' lives are on the line in these types of things."

Depends. The "waste manifest" which is the shipping paper to accompany the waste may well have been filled out "according to EPA" regulations.

When a container is a mixture of chemicals the Dept. of Transportation requires use of a generic description and only the two most dangerous chemicals or those two that contribute most to the proper shipping description be entered in parenthesis as part of the technical names.

EPA on the other hand has their own descriptions for waste and may not have required such......only the waste code designation. The way the law is written the DOT defers to the EPA on matters affecting the environment.
23 posted on 03/07/2005 6:09:31 AM PST by Smartaleck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dasboot

"Umm...y'think they put acids in an unlined steel tank?"

Were it an unlined tank it would have dissolved quite readily upon filling. Fox news just mentioned possible bullet holes in the tank. hmmmmm


24 posted on 03/07/2005 6:11:12 AM PST by Smartaleck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: glock rocks
Later, word came that what was in the tank was phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, hydrofluoric acid and ammonia, with the acid at only 10 percent concentration.

Err, what was the ammonia doing in there? They were trying to neutralize the acids?

25 posted on 03/07/2005 6:11:22 AM PST by Kretek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: antiunion person

Yikes, somebody that knows 49CFR. !


26 posted on 03/07/2005 6:16:31 AM PST by Smartaleck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: lewislynn
Nevada where they want to store the waste is dry, very dry.....almost all states of origin the chance of getting mixed in the ground water and spreading over vast areas in the case of a storage accident .......

If you are going to have an accident with the storage at some point in the future(you plan ahead whether likely or not) then in the event of that occurring you want it where it will pose the least danger. Nevada is perfect, low water table and population area.

The second thing it does is place it all in one area secure and watched over, instead of 100, and 100 different levels of maintenance.

There is more danger of from nuke plants built on fault lines than stored waste in Nevada. Whether we like it or not nuke waste is being transported on our highways and trains today, somehow I do not think we will ever be informed of an accident if one occurs. There is more danger to the people of East Tennessee and Colorado from nuke waste than there ever will be in Nevada.

27 posted on 03/07/2005 6:26:52 AM PST by Lady Heron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: JennysCool

No, there is much more to it than that, see my post 27.


28 posted on 03/07/2005 6:29:03 AM PST by Lady Heron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Kretek
The other local paper said vinegar... (yep - acetic acid sounds more likely than ammonia). Kennecott Copper, who contracted the service, says all that should have been there was sulphuric acid.
29 posted on 03/07/2005 6:40:38 AM PST by glock rocks (WYGIWYG)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Here we go, again!


30 posted on 03/07/2005 7:52:44 AM PST by TaxRelief (Support the Troops Rally, Fayetteville, NC -- March 19, 2005)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: antiunion person

The "Catch 22" here is the fact that the placards could also tell a terrorist what the contents of the tank is.

Say you have a clearly marked tank of Liquid Chlorine.
One well placed RPG round could potentially kill thousands.


31 posted on 03/07/2005 8:11:53 AM PST by 76834
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: lewislynn
Ideally they would secure them in solid blocks that held an ambient temperature of about 200 degrees and use them to heat water, or reprocess the stuff through breeder reactors. If it's radiocactive then it has energy in it and it's still useful. NIMBY rules America though...
32 posted on 03/07/2005 8:16:37 AM PST by Axenolith (This space for rent...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: glock rocks
Yah, if you mix acids they (mostly) won't react with each other and will just sit there.

Mix an acid with a base, though...

33 posted on 03/07/2005 8:24:19 AM PST by Kretek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Smartaleck
Depends. The "waste manifest" which is the shipping paper to accompany the waste may well have been filled out "according to EPA" regulations.

I have stood outside a wrecked semi trailer with fumes issuing from the doors while the driver told us that the manifests were inside the trailer.

Stupidity manifests in all job categories...

34 posted on 03/07/2005 8:28:50 AM PST by Axenolith (This space for rent...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Smartaleck

40 hour refresher today :-)


35 posted on 03/07/2005 8:29:45 AM PST by Axenolith (This space for rent...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: zebra 2
Yeah, just pointing out that chem tanks have linings.

I have worked around the chem in question IIRC, not familiar with it's required handling needs, but I do know how much it was feared by the plant operators.

I believe that was at American Hoerst(sp) Corp., near Baton Rouge La.(many moons ago)

36 posted on 03/07/2005 9:37:23 AM PST by Cold Heat (This space is being paid not to do anything.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: dasboot

Years ago I talked to a cleanup crew that was working at a truck stop. A truck had been loaded with barrels containing an acid. The driver made it about two hundred miles before the barrels started leaking.


37 posted on 03/07/2005 9:44:49 AM PST by meatloaf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: meatloaf
Better transmute onsite than transport hazmat all over the place.

I know I'm stepping' on Neanderthal toes, but, for cripes sake, we are in the future now.

i.e. ~ Biological Transmutation ~

Louis Kervan

38 posted on 03/07/2005 10:17:27 AM PST by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: dasboot
"....Umm...y'think they put acids in an unlined steel tank? Gotta be stainless or plastic, right?...."

Roger that. Hydrochloric acid will eat right through ferrous metals; the lining of choice used to be rubber but I'm not sure what's used today. I'm sure certain plastics would be just as good or better.

39 posted on 03/07/2005 10:41:41 AM PST by Victor (If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert." -David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: The Chosen One

Do you think they are going to be transported in a tank car as a Liquid?


40 posted on 03/07/2005 11:23:04 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson