The Environmental Protection Agency says a gasoline tanker truck that crashed in the small Colorado town of Lyons north of Boulder might have spilled far more fuel than originally estimated.
Investors and crews now believe 1,000 to 1,600 gallons leaked into the soil after the tanker rolled over on a U.S. 36 highway curve. It was loaded with 8,500 gallons of gasoline.
Click here for the story from the Longmont Daily Times-Call.
Friday’s activity is among the latest efforts to clean up in the aftermath of the rollover Tuesday on U.S. 36. The semi tanker was hauling 8,500 gallons of gasoline when it crashed on a curve near Apple Valley Road’s north intersection at the highway, northwest of Lyons.
The Environmental Protection Agency said crews expected to be working overnight Friday, after “unexpected” free-flowing pockets of gasoline were found in the soil, near the site of a semi tanker spill outside of Lyons. EPA officials also said in a news release that the amount of fuel released may have been more than initially estimated, with 1,000 to 1,600 gallons believed to have leaked, instead of the initially predicted 500 to 1,000 gallons.
Dana Barnicoat, EPA Region 8 public information officer, said that the fuel was discovered by the responsible party’s contractors while excavating gasoline-contaminated soil. Barnicoat said officials didn’t yet know how much fuel was in the pockets.