,

Environmental Officials Concerned Over Train-Spilled Oil Along Mississippi

By
map of Wabasha MN to Winona MN
Rough map of the area from Wabasha, MN to Winona MN.

With warmer weather in the forecast, some officials are concerned oil that spilled from a train traveling along the Mississippi River could melt into area waterways.

Oil was found on a 70-mile stretch from Wabasha to Winona.

David Morrison is with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Emergency Response Team. He says there are still considerable portions of the track that need to be addressed. Morrison says they’re concerned about the weather.

Stay informed on the latest news

Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“Right now the oil is on the ballast, in between the rails. What we don’t want is for warm spring flush or rain to push that oil off the ballast into the adjacent areas,” Morrison said. “So the monitoring plan is to look for oil runoff beyond the immediate rail.”

MPCA is overseeing Canadian Pacific’s cleanup efforts. Morrison says they’ve asked the company to look at technologies that could prevent the oil from running off the rail.

A Canadian Pacific spokesman says they’ve hired contractors to vacuum and collect the oiled snow and is working with consultants to draft a monitoring program for sensitive habitat areas. It’s unclear how much still needs to be cleaned up.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says they’re especially concerned about a bigger spill that occurred near Weaver Bottoms, after the train was parked for an hour. The area is known to support diverse wildlife, including tundra swans and other waterfowl, fish, and amphibians. MPCA is also keeping a close eye on a rail section in Frontenac and in Winona wetlands.