IDEQ evaluating ammonium nitrate spill

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is evaluating whether a deadly crash that spilled ammonium nitrate will have an effect on surface and groundwater.

“We should have some results back from environmental samples that were collected today and we hope to have more technical information from the manufacturer of the product, as well as a better understanding of how much product was released at the accident site,” Dan Redline, DEQ’s regional administrator, said on Monday.

Idaho State Police said a northbound tractor-trailer drifted off U.S. Highway 95 on Saturday afternoon and overturned, spilling an estimated 500 gallons of ammonium nitrate.

The driver of the 2010 Peterbilt, John M. Moody, was fatally injured, state police. It remained unclear what caused Moody, a 62-year-old from Peck, to veer off the four-lane stretch of highway known as Cocolalla Flats.

The highway was closed for seven hours following the crash.

Ammonium nitrate can be extremely volatile if its heated or ignited. It is mainly used for fertilizer and explosives, particularly in mining activities.

Bob Howard, Bonner County’s director of Emergency Management, said the material was being transported in a liquid state. The spilled material was hemmed into a roadside ditch using sand dams.

Idaho’s Region 1 Hazardous Materials Response Team stopped the tanker truck from leaking and assisted with the cleanup effort.

“As it gets cold, it hardens into a sludge almost,” said Bill Keeley, division chief for Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, which houses the haz-mat team.

Keeley said the material was in a pretty benign state, but the potential for an explosion remained, especially if it came into contact with hydrocarbons.

“That was the concern the whole time,” he said.