Canadian Pacific Railroad train derailment of denatured ethanol into the Mississippi River

At 1120 hours Central Time, Wednesday, February 4, 2015, a southbound Canadian Pacific freight train derailed eleven railcars on the right descending bank of the Mississippi River 10 miles north of Dubuque, Iowa near Baltown, Iowa. Approximately 20,000-30,000 gallons of product has discharged potentially impacting the Mississippi River. One railcar ignited as a result of the derailment. Up to six railcars containing ehtanol derailed also potentially involved in the discharge. Local, State and Federal responders are on the scene coordinating response efforts.

On February 4th, 2015, 1153 hours Central Time, the EPA Region 7 Phone Duty officer Joe Davis Received NRC Report #1107313.  Davis contacted the Reporting Party, Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) for additional information.  Davis began notification activities (to EPA, IDNR, DOI, and other stakeholders).

At 1230 hours, OSC Davis notified (downstream) Dubuque (Eagle Point) Water District Manager, Robert Green, and forwarded a copy of the initial NRC Report.

At 1244 hours, Brent A. Earley, Water Quality Supervisor, Iowa American Water, notified other downstream water users in the area.

On February 4th, 2015, after noon, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) deployed Chris Gelner from Field Office 1, in Manchester, Iowa.  US Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River (UMR) deployed 2 Marine Safety Technicians from the Quad Cities MSD (less than two hours away).   

On February 4th, 2015, in the early evening, CPR deployed Emergency Response Manager, John Gibbons to the scene.  Gibbons mobilized contractors, Hulcher Services, and Conestoga-Rovers & Associates to the scene that evening.

On February 4th, 2015, at 2150 hours, EPA Duty Officer, Joe Davis received an update (by phone conversation) from Response Managers, Chad Livingston, and Gibbons (both with Canadian Pacific Railroad).  Livingston provided the following information and estimates;

-          Ten (10) rail cars are derailed.  Each of the cars contained approximately 28,000 gallons of denatured ethanol.

-          At least five of the cars appear to be breached, or have slow leaks (one tank is leaking approximately 5 gal per 10 minutes).

-          Two of the car are still on fire near the leak.  The fires may likely be out by morning. 

-          The other cars do not appear to be leaking.

-          Livingston estimates that approximately 5,000 – 50,000 gallons of product has been discharged at this time.

-          The contractor, Hulcher Services is on site and is planning to conduct transfer loading of the tanks in the morning.  Tank cars will then be removed.

-          The contractor, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates is on site to conduct safety/assessment sampling support.

-          Crews are currently working on improving/constructing an access road to the remote site.

At approximately 10:15 pm, the NRC issued an updated report, #1107830 as follows:

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT        

AT 1620Z (ZULU time), A SOUTHBOUND CANADIAN PACIFIC FREIGHT TRAIN DERAILED ELEVEN (11)  RAILCARS ON THE RIGHT DESCENDING BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. ONE (1) OF  THE CARS CARGO CONSIST OF SAND, THE REMAINING TEN (10) CARS CONTAIN  ETHANOL. SIX (6) CARS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED (3 ON THEIR SIDE, 3 UPRIGHT).  APPROXIMATELY 20,000-30,000 GALLONS OF PRODUCT HAS DISCHARGED, WITH AN  UNCONFIRMED AMOUNT IMPACTING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. THERE IS A POTENTIAL  MAJOR INLAND RELEASE OF 186,000 GALLONS OF PRODUCT. NO INJURIES REPORTED.  AS A RESULT OF IMPACT ONE RAILCAR IGNITED IN FIRE.

 *** THIS IS AN UPDATED REPORT, REFERENCE NRC REPORT # 1107313***

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On February 5, 2015, at 1915 hours, Phone Duty Officer, Joe Davis received an update (by phone conversation) from Response Manager Gibbons (CPR).  Gibbons stated the following information points:

-          Hulcher (contractor) has isolated the derailed cars from the unaffected rail cars.  Hulcher started transfer offloading of the damaged cars.  The cars will be removed from the area after the contents has been removed.

-          CPR and their contractor, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) have developed a sampling plan in coordination with IDNR (on-site last night).  Ten (10) water sample locations (1 – upstream, and 9 – downstream) will be sampled for ethanol, dissolved oxygen, and gasoline range organics (GRO).   Sampling was conducted  last night at the Mud Lake area (marina & park) downstream of the scene.

-          Gibbons and CRA are planning to access the river this morning (by air boat) to conduct assessment and additional sampling.

Additional Updates:

US Fish and Wildlife Service staff (Richard King) will deploy an airboat on the morning of February 5th to assess possible environmental damages to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.  They expect launch around 0930 hours. 

EPA R7 & 5, in coordination with the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, have provided additional planning information (response strategies, sensitive ecosystem data) to the PRP.  This information is being incorporated into the incident response planning.

EPA Region 7 has dispatched On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) Eric Nold and one START contractor to the incident this morning at 0900 hours.  OSC Nold should be on the scene early afternoon of February 5th.

The RP has been identified as Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR).

OSC Eric Nold will arrive on the scene on February 5, 2015.  He will integrate into the standing Incident Command Structure. Nold will assess current RP response activities, and will support and/or initiate additional response actions as needed.

2.2.1.1 Planned Response Activities
OSC Nold will continue to monitor/support response actions at the scene and coordinate closely with local, state, and federal officials.  Additiona updates will be provided as they are available.

2.2.1.2 Next Steps

2.2.2 Issues