Tulsa, Okla.-It took 20 hours, a crew of cleanup experts working through the night, and two vacuum trucks to remove 25 tons of urea fertilizer spilled on a Tulsa freeway by an out-of-control semi-truck last month. Sooner Emergency Services of Tulsa and Muskogee took care of the spill left by the carrier apparently hauling from the Port of Tulsa. The driver was believed to have suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital. “It was spread over all three freeway lanes and we had to bring in two Guzzler vacuum trucks to suck it up into a tank and then dump it into rolloff boxes,” Sooner owner Bill Inhofe told Green Markets. “We got permission to spread it over our 6,000-acre farm in Muskogee southeast of Tulsa.” The spill was first reported as ammonium nitrate, and if it had been it wouldn’t have been handled any differently, Inhofe said. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said the truck was exiting Interstate 244 just before 5 p.m. when it went off the ramp onto U.S. 75. He said motorists were diverted off the highways, and a nearby business was told to shut its bay doors to prevent any dust from getting inside.
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