Yellowstone River cleanup begins after asphalt binder spill due to train derailment

Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after spill occurred, witnesses report.

Officials with Environmental Protection ncy said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting globs into garb bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with EPA.

Alexis Bogofsky, whose family’s ranch was impacted by an oil spill on Yellowstone River near Billings in 2011, took pictures Saturday of refined petroleum product covering rocks and sandbars. She also snapped an im of a bird that had died in black substance.

“This killdeer walked across asphalt, which had heated up in sun, and it got stuck and died with its head buried in asphalt,” Bogofsky wrote in caption of an im she posted on social media. “You could tell where it had tried to pull itself out.”

A bridge over river collapsed as a train crossed it early on June 24 near town of Columbus and 10 cars fell into water, spilling liquid asphalt and molten sulfur, officials said. Both materials were expected to cool and harden when exposed to cold water, and officials said re was threat to public or downstream water supplies, officials said.

However, asphalt binder behaved differently.

“This stuff is t sinking in this water,” Peronard said Sunday. “It adheres really well to rock, and we can roll it up like taffy on sand.”

Bogofsky, in ar of her photos, captured a sheen on water. She said spilled material heated up with warmer temperatures and “you can smell it.”

Montana Department of Environmental Quality, EPA and Montana Rail Link — entities managing cleanup — said more asphalt product was released Friday as a rail car was being removed from river.

“Initial assessments indicate release was minimal based on amount of material believed to still be remaining in impacted car,” statement said.

Professor Kayhan Ostovar with Yellowstone River Research Center at Rocky Mountain College also took pictures Friday of petroleum product that had washed onto riverbank about 6 miles (10 kilometers) downstream from spill.

Ostevar’s team has been conducting turtle surveys below derailment and is sharing GPS locations of sensitive sites that are near areas where asphalt binder has come to rest.

Turtles are particularly vulnerable to this type of spill, Ostovar said, because y are leaving water right w to seek out nesting sites on gravel bars and basking in sun.

center was created after 2011 ExxonMobil pipeline breach to gar better baseline information on species of concern that live in and around Yellowstone River.

Statements from ncies and railroad over past week have asked people to report sighting of asphalt materials on riverbank via email to rpderailment@mtrail.com, and have listed a phone number — 888-275-6926 — for Oiled Wildlife Care Network to report animals with oil on m.

reports from public had been received, Peronard said.

Bogofsky argued it shouldn’t have taken more than a week to develop a cleanup plan, especially since it’s kwn what materials trains haul through Montana, as well as dam 2011 oil pipeline spill caused.

“We should have plans in place for this and we should have learned our lesson in 2011,” she said, arguing that work to clean up asphalt binder could have happened at same time y were removing rail cars from water.

last of rail cars was expected to be removed from water on Sunday, Peronard said, while agricultural users were tified that y could resume using river water for irrigation. ir irrigation canals had been shut down as a precaution.

Cleaning up spills of petroleum products is “somewhat of a losing game,” Peronard said. “We are never going to recover all of oil here ... and re’s likely to be impacts when we are done. That is unavoidable.”

As far as cleanup delay, he said response to any accident starts with protecting human lives, controlling source of spill and n protecting environment. He said ncy also had to make sure its cleanup plan did t cause more harm than good for bird and turtle nests in area.

Cleanup crews also have to stay at least a half mile away from eagles nesting in area, Peronard said.

spilled asphalt material is t water soluble, he said.