Incident Background
The Dunsmuir Railyard has operated since the early 1900s.
Prior to 1955, the facility (then operated by the Southern Pacific
Transportation Company) was equipped with a steel tank with a capacity of 2.3
million gallons. The tank held Bunker C fuel to power steam locomotives. It was
replaced by a 200,000-gallon diesel tank in 1955. Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR)
acquired the property in 1996. UPRR transitioned away from fuel storage and
fueling operations at the site and by 2003, most of these activities had
ceased.
Unknown amounts of Bunker C and diesel fuels have seeped
into the soil, groundwater, and Upper Sacramento River. Several attempts have
been made over the last century to stop contamination from migrating into the
river. Current response activities stem from a citizen report of oil along the
riverbank near the facility in 2018. Since then, environmental response actions
have included:
- Additional site investigation to support design and
implementation of site cleanup activities
- Excavation of impacted material along the surface of the
riverbank and partial riverbank restoration
- Installation of oil barriers in the river and along sections
of the concrete walkway adjacent to the river
- Installation of containment boom in the river
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
(RWQCB) issued a Cleanup and Abatement Order to address site-wide contamination
and discharge. Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)
issued a Clean Water Act (CWA) Order to UPRR requiring response actions to
remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the substantial threat of a
discharge of oil.
Current Status
A Unified Command (UC) consisting of the U.S. EPA, RWQCB,
California Department of Fish and Wildlife-Office of Spill Prevention and
Response (CDFW-OSPR), and UPRR has been formed and will be coordinating on the
site cleanup and restoration project.
The project began in mid-July 2022 and has extended into 2024. In-river work is expected to cease in 2024 by November. EPA is the lead oversight agency
for the following planned response actions:
- Removal of retaining walls and the adjacent walkway
- Excavation of oil-impacted soil along 1,000 feet of
shoreline
U.S. EPA Environmental Response Team (ERT) and
California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) have conducted evaluations of analytical surface water sample data collected during
removal operations on August 6, 2024. The U.S.EPA ERT
evaluated surface water sample data and determined that concentrations did not
exceed risk-based screening levels for recreational activity based on being in
the water 4 days/week and 3 hours/day. OEHHA also
conducted an evaluation and does not recommend a fishery closure at this time.
While more data is being collected, OEHHA advises avoiding consuming fish
caught in areas of visible sheen or odor.
Anyone observing oiled wildlife should not attempt to
capture it. Instead, please report observations of oiled wildlife to the Oiled
Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) hotline at 1-877-UCD- OWCN (1-800-823-6926).
Media
Media inquiries can be directed to the U.S. EPA Public Information Officer, John Senn at (415) 972- 3999, or CDFW-OSPR Public
Information Officer, Eric Laughlin, at (916) 214-3279.
Additional Public Information
Additional Public Information
More information on this project can be found at CDFW OSPR’s
Cal Spill Watch site, https://calspillwatch.wildlife.ca.gov/.
Tara Fitzgerald is the EPA Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the site - (415) 243-6851.
The UPRR Public Information Officer is Peggy
Ygbuhay, Sr. Director Public Affairs with Union Pacific Railroad at (916)
789-5957.
