Soda Springs, Idaho-The Idaho Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said that as of Jan. 5 it expected Agrium Inc. to have cleaned up 85 percent of the 5 million gallons of acidic water that spilled from a gypsum stack at its southeastern Idaho phosphate operations near here. Agrium spokeswoman Lisa Parker told Green Markets efforts have been carried out around the clock, with as many as 100 workers, since the berm around the stack gave way Dec. 27 and inundated nearby farmland for a quarter mile. Parker said the company has been concentrating on the cleanup and would start an investigation into what caused the breach right away. “They’ve been making a pretty good effort, hitting it hard with a lot of equipment,” remarked Idaho DEQ regional administrator Mark Dietrich. Fortunately, he added, a lot of the mess went into canals and was easily recovered, and most of the rest froze on the ground. Dietrich also reported that no enforcement decision has been made at this time since the focus has been on cleanup efforts right now and for the next several days. Agrium flew in specialists who have handled railroad spills to direct vacuuming of the liquid and excavating and loading the frozen runoff into trucks. Dietrich said he doubted that much of the contamination had seeped into the ground, but monitors will continue taking samples. “If we have to move more of it later, we’ll do it,” he reported. He said the pond would probably have to be drained to do an engineering analysis to determine what caused the failure of the berm, which is a fairly new enclosure that started up last June.
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