(The following story by Joe LoTemplio appeared on the Press Republican websit eon May 24.)
TICONDEROGA, N.Y. — A train derailment caused large amounts of cooking oil to spill into Lake Champlain early Monday morning.
A southbound Canadian-Pacific Railroad train was halted shortly after 4 a.m. when several cars came off the tracks just south of Fort Ticonderoga.
The oil spilled onto the ground and seeped toward the lake. The amount won’t be known until officials can substantiate how much oil remains in the car.
Another tanker carrying liquid salt also derailed, but officials were uncertain whether that had leaked.
The railroad hired a private firm to clean up the cooking oil, which was monitored by the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency out of Addison, Vt.
“It’s not an emergency situation, just more of a nuisance,’’ Essex County Emergency Services Director Raymond Thatcher said.