(The following article by Tamara Miller was posted on the Vail Daily News website on June 30.)
VAIL, Colo. — The train tracks near State Bridge are open for business again, just one day after a damaged track caused a coal train to derail and spill coal and diesel near the Colorado River.
Union Pacific officials suspect a damaged track caused eight train cars and one locomotive to run off the track in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Crews were able to clear and fix the track, and re-open the railroad by 4:50 a.m. Wednesday, said John Bromley, spokesman for the railroad company.
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency were still surveying the damage Wednesday. Early EPA reports indicated the spill was contained on the riverbank. Nevertheless, crews placed booms across the river to filter out any oil. Barry Smith, the county’s emergency management director, said crews placed another boom on the river Wednesday and it is collecting oil. However, it appears there was a minimal amount of contamination-, said Floyd Nichols, EPA duty officer.
“We still have people on site who are continuing the clean-up job,” Nichols said.
Bromley said about 2,000 cubic yards of coal made it into the river. It will likely take a few days to clean up the mess, he said.
If EPA officials determine oil did make it into the river, Union Pacific could be fined.
Eagle County officials were still trying to find out why there was a five-hour delay between when the incident happened and when it was reported to county officials shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday.
“This has become a trend with Union Pacific,” Smith said. “We don’t know if there is any requirement that they notify us, but it would be nice, especially with oil leaking into the river.”