Railcar leak closes Interstate, causes evaucations

SOUTH SALT LAKE Up to 8,000 residents were evacuated from homes and

businesses Sunday, after a rail tanker car began leaking highly toxic and

corrosive acid. At 10 p.m. the evacuation orders were lifted although many raods, including I-15 remained closed.

With the car's structure compromised, workers dared not climb its

ladder to attach a hose and begin pumping out acids. Instead, they were

planning to a specialized machine to puncture the wall of the tank,

insert a hose, and begin pumping the acid into holding tanks.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was at the scene consulting with safety experts.

By Sunday night an estimated 5,500 gallons had leaked from the car,

which originally contained13,500 gallons. According to Steve Foote,

South Salt Lake fire chief, early reports said the car held

hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitrous acid, nitric acid and

sulfuric acid.

At the scene later, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said conflicting messages had

come in about the tank's contents. That troubles him, he said. "We're

going to find out exactly why there was a miscommunication," he said.

"You have to know what's inside in order to formulate a response."

Assuming the tank held acid, and depending on concentration of fumes

inhaled, the material could severely damage a person's lungs.

"It's waste acid," Foote said Sunday afternoon. "It was used in a

manufacturing process, and now that rail car's leaking."

He described the tank's leaks as looking like "big white softballs that

are all along the railcar. . . . It's just bubbling like big blisters