Michigan's 5 costliest hazmat accidents in the past decade all involved tanker trucks
Tanker trucks safely move petroleum products and chemicals in thousands of trips every day. But on the rare occasions of an accident, the results can be costly, and even deadly.
Hazmat shipments: Huge amounts of hazardous materials pass through Midwest every day. How safe are residents?
Following are Michigan's five costliest accidents related to the transport of hazardous materials in the past decade, with damages adjusted for inflation:
Chassell, Feb. 3, 2018. Cost: $2,644,071.
Michigan's worst non-pipeline hazmat accident of the past decade could have been a whole lot worse.
On the winter morning of Feb. 3, 2018, a vehicle attempted to pass a tanker truck on an icy U.S. Highway 41 near the rural community of Chassell, in Houghton County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A four-vehicle crash ensued that led to one person's death and the tanker truck overturning, spilling about 4,000 gallons of gasoline and 400 gallons of diesel fuel at a bridge over the Sturgeon River.
But because the river was frozen, the fuel didn't migrate into nearby Portage Lake, which is connected to Lake Superior. Cleanup largely consisted of removing contaminated soil and snow.
Lincoln Park, Aug. 20, 2015. Cost: $930,585.
It was a terrifying scene on one of southeast Michigan's busiest freeways. On Interstate 75, a tanker truck crashed and exploded on Aug. 20, 2015, near the Lincoln Park border with Detroit, causing a spill of about 8,000 gallons of gasoline and a massive fireball that took firefighters hours to put out. The truck driver was injured in the accident. The resulting damage caused the closure of I-75 in the area for days for repairs.
Davison, Jan, 2, 2014. Cost: $771,837.
A tanker truck driver lost control on an icy Interstate 69 near Irish Road in the Genesee County community of Davison on Jan. 2, 2014. The truck skidded along a guardrail, then a concrete bridge abutment, before falling off the highway about 15 feet to Irish Road below, crashing and catching fire, burning the more than 500 barrels of crude oil it was carrying.
Both the northbound highway and Irish Road were closed for about two days as engineers examined the integrity of the highway overpass.
Dearborn, March 11, 2015. Cost: $666,500.
On yet another of southeast Michigan's busiest highways, a car forced a tanker truck carrying more than 11,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel into a median on Interstate 94 near the Dearborn-Detroit border. The ensuing sparks caused the tanker to explode, raining fireballs that set multiple other cars on fire. No one was killed or seriously injured.
Cleanup crews had to remove fuel contamination from the grassy medians and soil beneath, and a 150-foot section of the freeway's pavement was removed, along with contaminated soil underneath.
Zeeland, Feb. 9, 2018. Cost: $503,363.
Icy roads were again a factor in this early February crash on Byron Road just east of Interstate 196 in Ottawa County. A car lost control on the slippery roads and slid into the path of a tanker truck hauling 12,000 gallons of diesel fuel. The truck driver swerved to avoid a crash and rolled into a ditch on the opposite side of the road. About half of the tank's contents — 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel — spilled.In a fortunate twist, the jackknifed tanker truck served as a sort of dam to confine much of the fuel spill to a smaller location. The road was closed for several days amid a weeklong hazmat cleanup.
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan's 5 costliest hazmat accidents in the past decade
