Grand River contaminated in an incident
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — State environmental officials and city officials are working with a rail company to clean up a contamination of the Grand River near REO Town.
6 News was notified of the situation by a viewer at about 4:30 p.m.
Scott Bean, spokesman for the city of Lansing, says the city is “monitoring” the situation. He says officials from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy are overseeing clean up.
The contamination, he says, came from a sealant being applied to railroad ties on a rail bridge that crosses the Grand River in REO Town, near the now-retired Eckert Power Plant.
EGLE officials confirmed they were on the scene.
“Our folks got a citizen report of this this afternoon and are on scene,” EGLE Spokesman Hugh McDiarmid tells 6 News in an email. “Apparently. the railroad company painted the ties on the railroad bridge that the pipe runs alongside, and it is dripping into the river.”
McDiarmid says the company was applying creosote.
“Creosote is a brown to black oily liquid with a penetrating smoky odor,” the Material Safety Data Sheet on the chemical explains. “Vapor causes moderate to severe irritation of eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract. Liquid can cause burning and itching with reddening of the skin, which is accentuated by sunlight.”
NCFS_445 Creosote Coal TarDownload
It is unclear how much creosote got into the river.
6 News has reached out to CN, the company that owns the railroad bridge, and is waiting for a response. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
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