Westcan Bulk Transport issued a statement regarding a sulphuric acid release on Tuesday (April 10) morning in the Trail area.
“Shortly after 8:00 a.m. PST, there was a release of sulphuric acid from a Westcan Bulk Transport truck during the 16-km drive from Teck’s Trail Operations to the Quark Siding reload station in Waneta,” said the release.
The statement added, “The release was quickly identified and our incident response team secured the area to assess the incident and begin the clean up process, with the assistance of the Teck Emergency Response Team.
“The cleanup was completed at approximately 2:00 p.m. PST today (Tuesday). We can confirm that there was no waterway or ground water contamination as a result of the release and do not expect there to be any long-term health, safety or environmental impacts.”
The company did offer some precautionary actions for anyone concerned.
“Anyone who feels they may have come in contact with the product should avoid inhalation, digestion, and skin contact and wash any surface or item that may have come in contact with the product as a precaution.
“Anyone who was traveling in the vicinity at the time of the release and is concerned that their vehicle may have come in contact with the product should run their vehicle through an automatic car wash as a precaution to safely dilute and remove any residue.
“Our safety team is currently investigating to determine the cause of the release and the equipment involved has been taken out of service until a cause can be determined.”