Ethanol spill fouls Mississippi River in Wisconsin, newspaper says

The derailment Sunday afternoon was the second of the weekend in Wisconsin.

Six BNSF Railway cars loaded with crude oil derailed in March near Galena, Ill., with two of the cars bursting into flames.

Investigators said an Amtrak passenger train passed through with no problem shortly before the derailment of the oil train, leaving officials to wonder what caused these cars to jump the track. A determination will be made once the cars are righted whether they can be moved safely or whether they need to be unloaded on-site and cut up there.

The Crude-by-Rail Safety Act prohibits the use of unsafe DOT-111 tank cars, such as the ones involved in the Alma derailment. The main line is expected to be clear at 6 p.m.

“The leaking vehicle has now been sealed, spilled product was contained and siphoned off, and no product has reached waterways”, Cummings said. Berry said preliminary reports indicate less than 1,000 gallons of oil spilled and all of it will be hauled away and disposed of in an environmentally safe manner.

Late Sunday night, the company said 35 homes had been evacuated as a precaution, and that it had reserved hotel rooms for the families who lived in them.

“CP takes this incident extremely seriously”, the railroad said in a news release.

Up to 150 people left their homes during the evacuation, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Colin Severson said. It said there is no threat to the public. Everyone has since returned to their homes.

The regulations also require that the track be inspected visually twice a week, and officials said they inspect the track three times a week.

BNSF Railway crews are working near Alma at the site of the November 7 freight train derailment and continue re-railing the cars and repairing the tracks.

The spills have caused vast damage to the environment and USA regulatory authorities have been called upon to take immediate action, in order to minimize such accidents in the future. There were no injuries. Hundreds of gallons of crude oil spilled from one tanker.

About 20,000 gallons of ethanol spilled in a derailment Saturday along the Mississippi River near Alma. Officials will re-evaluate the situation in Watertown on Monday evening, Michalek said.