(Photo: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and a Fairbanks-based trucking company have come to an agreement on a cleanup of diesel fuel spilled in an area along the Richardson Highway south of Paxson.
A DEC news release says Colville Transport cannot continue cleaning up contaminated soil at the mile 164 spill site this year. That’s where a double-tanker truck crashed and spilled 4,300 gallons of diesel back on January 9th.
A cleanup crew hired by Colville removed about 1,700 cubic yards of contaminated soil during January and February. DEC’s Ashley Adamczak said earlier this year much of the contamination is not accessible.
“The release that occurred at mile post 164 is specifically complicated because it did run under the roadway,” Adamczak said. “And short of digging up the Richardson Highway, then there’s gonna be contamination mass that’s left behind.”
Adamczak said Colville officials have agreed to return to the site next summer to excavate the roadway, and remove an estimated 400 cubic yards of contaminated gravel, and then rebuild the roadbed.
Adamczak said the state Department of Transportation will do a more permanent rebuild as part of a bigger highway-improvement project scheduled for 2019 — estimated to cost $38 million dollars.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
