Insurance concerns slow 287 cleanup

A stretch of U.S. Highway 287 between Memphis and Childress is expected to remain closed for a fourth day today due to a chemical spill from an overturned truck.

Texas Department of Transportation Childress spokeswoman Barbara Seal said Thursday she did not know when the highway, which handles about 9,000 vehicles daily, would reopen because cleanup crews remained in Hall County removing contaminated soil.

TxDOT is detouring traffic in Childress north on U.S. Highway 83 and State Highway 256 to Memphis and in Memphis on State Highway 256 and U.S. 83 to Childress.

Questions about responsibility for paying for the cleanup have slowed the efforts, said David Prescott, president of Talon/LPE, an Amarillo environmental firm called in to deal with the hazardous spill.

"I have not seen an incident like this on a major highway in 17, 18 years," Prescott said. "Talon/LPE is driving to get 287 opened up as quickly as possible. We are being hampered by insurance companies and authorization of work and what insurance limits will allow for the cleanup of this spill."

State troopers responded about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to an overturned tractor-trailer that had spilled a chemical mixture of lead, calcium-zinc and Rea Tin 4435 onto the ground, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chris Ray said. The spill was about 2,640 gallons, according to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Andrea Morrow, a TCEQ spokeswoman, said in an email that "as long as the spill is being cleaned properly, we would not expect any health concerns."

The agency, according to the email, has inspectors there to "ensure proper containment, cleanup and adequate management of the spilled substances at the site."

"The contractor is actively addressing the cleanup of this incident. It is not known how much additional time may be needed to complete the cleanup activities, which will include clearing the truck, trailer and totes (all items need to be decontaminated before removal) from the scene. Affected areas have been sanded," Morrow's email said.

The TCEQ on Wednesday sent a certified letter to Truckland Inc., a Las Vegas company that owns the truck, demanding that it take immediate action to clean up the spill or the state would begin its own cleanup. The same day, another firm that began the cleanup, Clean Harbors, notified the state it would no longer continue "due to the failure to secure the financial assurance through the responsible party's insurance carrier."

The letter said conditions at the site "posed an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and/or the environment."

A Truckland Inc. dispatcher who would identify himself only as Charles G. said a company truck was involved in the spill. He said a private company hired by the trucking company insurance's carrier was cleaning up the hazardous material and that the carrier is paying for the spill. He said he could not say more because the investigation remained open.

"I know that they have a hazmat crew there cleaning up," he said. "They've got several (insurance) adjustors working on the matter. Not just one, but like four of them."

Talon/LPE arrived about 11 a.m. Tuesday. The most hazardous chemical they're dealing with is Rea Tin, Talon representatives said. Rea Tin has no odor and is hardly made visible by a darker spot seen on the roadway, said Jason Shubert, a Talon district manager.

The wreck happened in the middle of the median and most of the product spilled on the side of the road, he said.

"Nothing about this is normal," Shubert said. "Generally, we don't get spills with chemicals that are this dangerous."

The Rea Tin was spread across an area that Shubert estimated spans 400 feet by 300 feet.

"The excavation area is going to be a little smaller than that," Shubert said.

Prescott said the liquid Talon has recovered is getting sent back to the company that made it.

"That material is not waste," he said. "It's still a viable commodity, so it goes back to the manufacturer."

A government-required fact sheet for Rea Tin shows the material is suspected of causing genetic defects, could damage fertility or the unborn child, and can cause organ damage through prolonged or repeated exposure. It is harmful if swallowed or comes in contact with skin, and can cause an allergic skin reaction and eye damage, the document said.

Talon might be able to spread a surfactant on the roadway that can bind to the chemical and neutralize the chemical's hazardous properties so it can then be scrubbed from the paved surface, Shubert said. All runoff from that process must be captured in a catch basin and disposed of properly, Prescott and Shubert said.

The dirt in the median cannot be handled in the same way because the runoff can't be contained, Prescott said.

Talon assembled a team of 14 from its operations centers in Amarillo, Midland, San Antonio and Artesia, N.M.

The team has been working in full hazard suits, with masks, in 90-plus degree heat. Crews are working roughly 15-hour days.

But the large equipment that must be used and the number of people working the spill cleanup means the work site prevents the roadway from being opened, Shubert said.

Talon is rotating its workers in and out of the containment area every 20 minutes to prevent heat exhaustion, Shubert said.

"When these guys come back out of the spill, we have to decontaminate them," he said. "(The rotation) is mainly due to the heat. These guys come out of there drenched."

Marlee Sharp, who works at Billy's Truck Service in Childress, said the shutdown has impacted business and that normally four to five trucks a day come in off the highway for repairs.

"We have not had any off-the-road trucks, any companies off the road," she said Thursday. "Since the road's been closed down, we only have our regular people like the schools and TxDOT. ... If it wasn't for our regular customers who live here in Childress, we probably would have nothing."