REED POINT, Mont. (AP) — Two months after a railroad bridge collapse sent carloads of hazardous oil products plunging into Montana’s Yellowstone River, the cleanup workers are gone and a mess remains.
Thick mats of tarry petroleum asphalt cover portions of sandbars. Oil-speckled rocks and bushes line the shore along with chunks of yellow sulfur, a component of crude. In the middle of the river downstream of the bridge, a tangle of black steel juts out of the water from a large piece of ruptured tank car.
The railroad, Montana Rail Link, in conjunction with federal and state officials last week halted most cleanup work and stopped actively looking for contaminated sites. They said falling river levels that have been exposing more pollution also make it harder to safely operate the large power boats used by cleanup crews.
Almost half of the 48,000 gallons (180,000 liters) of molten petroleum asphalt that spilled has not been recovered, officials said. That includes 450 sites with asphalt in quantities considered too small or too difficult for efficient removal, according to data provided to The Associated Press.