Charleston, W.Va.-A tanker truck on its way to a strip coal mine spilled half or more of 20 tons of ammonium nitrate and 400 gallons of diesel fuel loaded on the front when it went out of control and overturned on a state road near here about 8:30 a.m. Nov. 27. A command center coordinated emergency responders from the State Dept. of Transportation, state police, county sheriff, fire department, and a chemical cleanup company, who converged on the scene in reaction to the danger of an explosion. “Luckily most of the diesel went into a local stream where heavy rain the night before had raised the water level. So most of the diesel got carried away,” State Director of Emergency Operations Chuck Runyon told Green Markets. “There was a little on the ground which got mixed with the ammonium nitrate, but we soaked it up. And we all breathed a sight of relief.” Runyon said the 10 or 11 tons of ammonium nitrate that got dumped on the highway were cleaned up by a vacuum truck and probably hauled to the mine for use there. Environmental crews monitoring the diesel fuel downstream didn’t detect any problems. The highway was closed most of the day to traffic, but everything was back to normal by 6 p.m. Runyon said he believed the driver was speeding when he lost control and overcorrected, hitting a rock hillside and overturning. The impact broke open the tanks, but the driver was not injured. He received a citation for failure to maintain control of his vehicle.
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