The company that owns a tanker truck that spilled more than 1,000 gallons of gasoline onto U.S. 101 last week has already shelled out $27,000 in cleanup costs and expects the total bill for the accident to continue growing.
Williams Tank Lines Safety Director David Ray doesn’t expect the driver of a Nissan who was allegedly at fault in the collision with Williams’ 2012 Peterbilt tractor-trailer to be held accountable because the initial police report of the crash indicates he was unlicensed and uninsured, Ray said.
“Probably this will all be out of our pocket,” Ray said. “We put 200 of these (trucks) on the road every single day. For the most part we have an excellent safety record.”
The fuel contamination seemed to be isolated to the dirt and grass area on the shoulder of the freeway immediately to the west of the scene of the accident, according to Dean Thomas of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Authorities are awaiting the latest soil sample results before determining if anymore cleanup is necessary.
The accident happened about 1 a.m. Feb. 27 on southbound U.S. 101 between the Tennant and Middle Avenue overpasses, according to authorities. A Nissan 350Z – allegedly speeding – collided with a tractor-trailer carrying a 8,500-gallon capacity tank.
The collision caused the truck to crash off the west side of the roadway, spilling about 1,100 gallons (Ray’s latest estimate as of Wednesday) of gasoline, according to authorities who responded to the accident. That resulted in a complete closure of the freeway for about seven hours following the accident, until the threat of an explosion was mitigated.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was transported to a nearby hospital with a complaint of pain, according to authorities.
Cleanup activities consisted of crews digging up the topsoil onto which the gasoline spilled and removing it from the environment, Thomas said. That soil is being temporarily stored in Gilroy until it gets moved to a permanent, safe disposal site.
Thomas, who examined the scene shortly after the accident, said it didn’t look like any of the gasoline ran off into the nearby Madrone Channel or East Little Llagas Creek, which he found “surprising.”
He expects to receive the latest completed soil results for the contaminated excavated soil by Thursday.
“Depending on those results, they’ll get back out there and either back-fill or dig out some more soil if it has not met the cleanup standard,” Thomas said.
Involved in the response and cleanup are the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board, Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health, state Fish and Game, Cal Trans, CAL FIRE, CHP and private contractors.
Ray said Williams Tank Lines was “very pleased with the emergency response personnel, and how they conducted themselves. Everything went the way it should have, and we don’t get that type of support everywhere in the state.”
Ray expects Williams’ total cleanup costs to rise to about $50,000, plus up to another $20,000 for disposal of the contaminated soil removed from the spill site. On top of that, the accident resulted in the loss of the $100,000 truck and a $70,000 tank – both of which were totaled – and about $30,000 worth of damage to the trailer component of the rig.
Plus, each time a lane closure is required on the freeway – as it was at various times Friday through Tuesday following the accident – the company will be billed $3,000 by Cal Trans, Ray added.
The CHP has placed the driver of the Nissan at fault for the accident, but that driver has not been cited, CHP Officer Herb Kellogg said. “It’s up to the (responding) officer if he will cite the Nissan for a moving violation or any other violation,” he said.
