Integrated Area Contingency Planning On The Clark Fork Watershed

ABSTRACT The Clark Fork and Flathead Basin Sub-Area consists of five counties in the state of Montana and the Flathead Nation. A section of pipeline running through the Flathead reservation was closed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, necessitating product removal from the pipeline in Missoula, Montana, shipment via train and truck over mountainous areas, and reinjection into the pipeline in Thompson Falls, Montana. The area also has hazardous material response issues demonstrating the need for an integrated hazmat and oil response plan. The Sub-Area Committee (sAC) consists of federal, state, tribal, local, and industry responders, planners and Natural Resource Trustees. One week to the day after the first sAC meeting, a train derailment occurred in the designated area. Four cars containing chlorine, one car containing potassium cresylate, and one car containing sodium chlorate began leaking—resulting in one death, over 350 injuries, evacuation of the town of Alberton, closure of Clark Fork for all recreational activities, detour of air traffic and closure of 63 miles of Interstate 90 for 17 days. Thirty minutes after the Alberton derailment, another derailment occurred near Doxon, Montana (also in the planning area) releasing 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the Clark Fork River. The plan consists of a core plan that contains the information vital to the response activities, and a volume that has all backup information that is not essential during the response. The plan is also in digitized format that runs off GIS maps. The maps contain all contacts, spill/release sources, available equipment, drinking water intakes, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, fish, wildlife and other sensitive environments. This plan is believed to be the tool that will insure smoother, more efficient responses in the future.