Small acid leak in Trail, B.C., marks 3rd local spill in 6 months
Less than 250 ml leaked at the reload centre in Waneta, east of city, company says
A portion of Highway 22A was briefly closed east of Trail, B.C., after a small leak of sulphuric acid on Saturday — the third spill on a B.C. highways in six months.
About 250 millilitres of the corrosive chemical leaked from a Trimac truck at the Waneta reload centre east of Trail around 5 p.m. PT, according to International Raw Materials (IRM), the company that distributes the acid.
A statement said the RCMP, Teck Emergency Response and fire crews were dispatched to the leak site.
IRM president Tip O'Neill said the spill was neutralized and cleaned up.
He said Trimac is investigating the source of the leak and all sulphuric acid shipments by road have been suspended until the investigation is finished.
Part of Highway 22A was closed while crews investigated the route the truck took. The company said no acid was detected on Highway 22A or Highway 3B.
Dozens of vehicles written off
O'Neill said he met with Trail Mayor Mike Martin on Sunday to discuss the leak.
Martin said all procedures seem to have been followed, but locals are concerned as to why spills continue to happen in their area.
Two tanker trucks spilled just under 300 litres in and around Trail on two separate days in April and May. The first spill left a 16-kilometre smear of acid along Highway 3B that nearly reached the U.S. border.
Dozens of vehicles — including a fire truck in Trail — were written off due to acid damage caused by driving over the chemical.
ICBC has also been fielding a deluge of more than 2,500 insurance claims from affected motorists.
The insurer is still inspecting and scrapping vehicles from the last two leaks.
With files from Bob Keating