Another Train Derailment as History Repeats in Montana

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(TNS) – Work continued Tuesday to clean up a freight train derailment near Paradise that sent thousands of beers tumbling down the bank of the Clark Fork River.

The derailment occurred just after 9 a.m. Sunday on a Montana Rail Link line directly across from Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort, about 3.8 miles south of Paradise and 9.75 miles southwest of Plains. The railway said in an update Monday night that their personnel and contractors continued to work on investigating and cleaning up the derailment, which sent more than 20 cars off the track. At least 18 derailed cars were visible just outside a tunnel that contained more derailed cars.

A tank car of butane, a form of liquefied petroleum gas, derailed but didn’t release any of the highly flammable material. The only cargo known to have spilled was some powdered, natural bentonite clay and multiple box cars of Coors Light and Blue Moon beer, in cans and bottles. There were no injuries in the derailment. No cars caught fire.

MRL said Monday that “A small amount of (diesel) fuel was released to the soil from two impacted refrigerator cars. MRL has been in communication with both local and federal authorities and will conduct any necessary site remediation, including impacted soil removal in coordination with DEQ. There continues to be no risk to the public, no reported injuries, and there are no concerns involving hazmat release.”

Clean-up crews deployed a floating boom on the Clark Fork River Sunday afternoon to contain the mountain of Coors Light and Blue Moon beers that tumbled down the shoreline between two mangled box cars. The boom could also contain any diesel fuel that might reach the river. Photos taken a few hours after the derailment showed a dark patch of soil on the river bank, directly beneath a damaged fuel tank at the end of a refrigerated railcar.

Montana Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Moira Davin wrote in an email Tuesday that “our team is communicating with Montana Rail Link and Sanders County who are leading the emergency response efforts. DEQ has an environmental oversight role for the cleanup effort.” Davin confirmed that no hazardous materials entered the river and wrote, “The next steps are to clean up the waste, prevent sediment from entering the river and clean up the soil from the diesel release. DEQ will continue to monitor the situation and will require reports and confirmation sampling for the soil cleanup.”

2nd round

Coincidently, the community, railway and emergency response agencies involved in Sunday’s incident have seen almost the exact same thing happen before. The scene of bottles and cans of beer bobbing down the Clark Fork conjured memories of an eerily similar event almost 24 years ago.

Amid sweltering temperatures on July 11, 1999, a heat-warped rail derailed an MRL freight train between Paradise and Plains, only a couple miles downstream of Sunday’s derailment. As happened Sunday, the 1999 derailment also sent thousands of Coors Light beers floating down the very same river, until a boom was deployed to contain them. The 1999 derailment also involved a tank car of liquefied petroleum gas — in that instance propane — that derailed but did not rupture.

And, of course, the 1999 incident spurred enterprising Montanans to pluck naturally chilled beers right from the cool waters of the Clark Fork. According to a front-page Missoulian story published the next day, Incident Commander John Holland said, “I think all the kids in the county are lined up along the river catching the beer.” The Clark Fork Valley Press published a photo July 14, 1999, of someone with a fishing net full of gleaming Coors Light cans in what the paper dubbed the “Silver Bullet Derby,” a reference to the beer’s nickname.

History repeated on Sunday, when anglers passing by in a drift-boat rowed over to the mountain of beer for an unexpected trophy.

The 1999 incident gave two train-hoppers whiplash, but they refused treatment, the Missoulian reported. However, unlike Sunday’s derailment, the 1999 incident sent about 20,000 gallons of scorching hot liquid asphalt into the Clark Fork. And that derailment caused a two-acre grass fire that took more than 30 firefighters to extinguish.

After the 1999 derailment, MRL estimated cleanup and track repair would take only two or three days. But the site of that derailment afforded work crews better access than this latest beer-train debacle. Although Sunday’s derailment is highly visible, it can only be accessed by vehicles traveling the single, blocked railroad track along the river, or by taking a boat across the river, according to MRL Director of Communications Andy Garland.

It was unclear Tuesday how long it would take to clean up and repair track from Sunday’s derailment. It also was not yet clear what, exactly, caused the derailment. Security camera footage from Quinn’s showed train cars abruptly derailing, crashing into each other and piling up on the riverbank just outside of the tunnel that the front of the train had already entered. The train quickly stopped moving, as beer spilled out of ruptured boxcars and another car splashed into the river nearby.

Weighing in

Many of Montana’s politicians had commented on the derailment by Tuesday.

Gov. Greg Gianforte said on Twitter Sunday afternoon that he’d been briefed on the derailment that morning and “we are prepared to mobilize the state’s resources.” Sen. Jon Tester tweeted around 12:25 p.m. Sunday, “I’m monitoring the train derailment in Sanders County and my office is in touch with local officials.” Sen. Steve Daines issued a similar statement on Twitter about an hour later, noting, “My office is in close contact with Sanders County officials and ( Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway ) and MRL officials. The safety of the community is my top priority.”

Rep. Matt Rosendale, who represents eastern Montana, weighed in on Twitter just before 9 p.m. Sunday: “My office and I are monitoring the train derailment in Sanders County. We are pleased to see that no one is injured and have offered our assistance to local officials.”

Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior who currently represents western Montana and the area where the derailment occurred, had not acknowledged the incident as of Tuesday afternoon.

Joshua Murdock covers the outdoors and natural resources for the Missoulian.