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BNSF Galena Derailment

 
Site Contact:
Jaime Brown
OSC

(brown.jaime@epa.gov)

Site Location:
MMP 171.6
Galena, IL 61036
 response.epa.gov/bnsfgalenaspill
NRC#: 1109741

A BNSF unit train carrying crude oil derailed adjacent to the Galena River on March 5, 2015. Several cars containing crude oil erupted in fire and released product to the ground. The confluence of the Galena River and Harris Slough of the Mississippi River is adjacent to the derailment site.

EPA OSCs, START contractors, and IMT support staff deployed to coordinate response efforts. The response effort was managed by an Incident Management Team under a Unified Command comprising of U.S. EPA Region 5, Illinois EPA, Jo Daviess County Emergency Management Agency, and BNSF Railway.

All documents related to the response, including IAPs, Sitreps, POLREPs, data, maps, photos, and aerial imagery are found on this website.


BNSF contractors monitoring soil flushing operations Flushing soils adjacent to track ballast to flush out crude oil for recovery in trench and on site treatment. Backfilling excavation area behind access ramp with clean sand to facilitate removal of ramp River sampling is conducted when > 1 Excavated soils from primary impacted area. A trench with sumps was installed along the railroad ballast to collect remaining product Illinois EPA Rockford Field Office personnel conducting daily oversight of excavation operations Loading out contaminated soil for transport to landfill facility Impacted area where contaminated soils are being excavated Harris Slough of the Mississippi River adjacent to the impacted area. There has been no sheen evident and no impact measured through sampling to surface water. Temporary water treatment plant set up on site to treat contact water during excavation activities Last of the sheet piles being installed on the north side of the impact area Daily Operations Briefing held at initiation of day work shift (0700hrs) Two different sheet pile contractors have been working around the clock to install containment around the impacted area. Sheet pile installation around impacted area Sheet pile installation along the shoreline to isolate impacted area from potential inundation from rising river levels Containment boom maintenance and surface water sampling from air boats deployed in the Harris Slough of the Mississippi River Geoprobe conducting soil boring operations to characterize and sample subsurface at perimeter of impacted area Derailed tanker cars are being emptied, cleaned, purged and cut up for removal from the Site and scrapping. Daily operations briefing held in front of EPA's MCP. Impacted tanker cars being cut up for removal from the derailment site. Workers clearing wreckage from impacted area of derailment site Derailment site foreman explaining current situation to U.S. Congresswoman Cheri Bustos and Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman Air boats deploying containment boom and monitoring surfacewater for sheen on the Harris Slough of the Mississippi River OSC Jaime Brown explaining site activities to Regional Administrator Susan Hedman and U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos Soil berm constructed between derailed cars and river edge OSC Benning conducting assessment of derailment scene OSCs Mendoza & Faryan discussing response strategies with BNSF Railway contractors Derailed rail cars on fire. Soil berm with spilled oil to contain spilled oil is in the foreground. View of Derailment in close proximity next to the Galena River. Fire ongoing at derailment site Fire at derailment site Fire at derailment site
For additional information, visit the Pollution/Situation Report (Pol/Sitreps) section.

A Map is available for viewing GIS information.