(The following story by Bill Byrns appeared on the Kankakee Daily-Journal website on January 21, 2009.)
GRANT PARK, Ill. — All contaminated material should be removed by Thursday from the site of Sunday’s CSX Corp. freight train derailment in Grant Park, according to a hazardous materials manager for the Union Pacific Railroad.
“We have removed around 1,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil and have it stockpiled on top of a plastic sheet at the site,” said Mark A. Maday, of Rochelle, who oversees a four-state region for Union Pacific. Soil samples also will be taken from the area after the contaminated material is removed.
Most of the tankers on the 22-car freight train were empty, Maday said.
“One tank car contained used crankcase waste oil. That car spilled approximately 10,000 to 11,000 gallons of oil that was largely confined to the immediate area of the tracks,” he said.
Three other tank cars were empty, but contained residue from denatured alcohol, Maday said. Fire officials initially feared the tank cars contained 5,000 gallons of the flammable chemical.
“We are conducting soil samples looking for evidence of any petroleum byproducts,” Maday said. “The alcohol itself would be gone by now.”
First Logistics, a contaminated waste hauling firm, is expected to remove all of the stockpiled material by Thursday, Maday said.
Assisting with the cleanup is Eagle Environmental, which is testing soil samples at the site, and Arcadis, a consulting and engineering firm that is developing a long-term remediation plan for the area.
Lab results on some of the soil tests may be available today or Thursday, Maday said.
Repairs to the tracks have been completed and trains were running normally on Tuesday.
Maday said it was too soon to say when remediation at the derailment site north of town would be completed. “It might be four to six months before closure; however, if we find something we didn’t expect, we may be here awhile.”
He assured Grant Park village officials Tuesday that both the state and federal environmental protection agencies are pleased with the pace of cleanup.
Maday said the derailment was caused when a wheel on one of the tank cars became “blazing hot, metal-on-metal” and flew up into the undercarriage. “That resulted in the axle failing, which caused the derailment.”