EPA cleanup crews find contaminated groundwater at Anacortes train derailment site

Crews investigating cause of train derailment in Anacortes

The Washington State Department of Ecology said the derailment happened near the Swinomish Casino and Lodge on the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Reservation after midnight.

ANACORTES, Wash. - Cleanup crews at the site of a train derailment in Anacortes that leaked thousands of gallons of diesel fuel have reported contaminated groundwater.

A BNSF Railway train heading for Burlington derailed at the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Reservation just after midnight on March 16.

Both engines left the tracks, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said about 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel poured from them.

A day after the derailment, the EPA said that some of the nearby soil was contaminated.

The agency removed over 1,200 cubic yards of soil so far, and it's estimated that up to 2,000 total cubic yards of soil may be removed. They are also installing groundwater wells to monitor for "any migration of diesel from the spill site."

BNSF is temporarily storing the contaminated soil until it can all be sent for disposal in a permitted landfill.

The EPA said the spill has not impacted wildlife and has not reached the shoreline.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.