Yellowstone’s ‘Largest Roadside Fuel Spill’ in Almost 20 Years
Written by Andrew-Rossi on September 2, 2020
After nearly a week, crews are still working to clean up a 3,000-gallon gasoline spill inside Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality are working together to complete the hazmat cleanup of approximately 3,000-gallons of unleaded gasoline that spilled when a tandem trailer overturned last week between Mud Volcano and the Fishing Bridge junction.
To do this, they’ve dug a hole – 100 feet wide by 100 feet long by 10 feet deep – to see the extent of the spill and removed the contaminated soil.
The road remains closed for at least the next week. They need to refill that hole and restore the road before traffic can safely resume.
The spill occurred August 27 as the commercial vehicle towing the tandem trailer was transporting gasoline to park facilities. The road was closed that same day.
Park officials have opened an investigation into the incident which is still ongoing, but there is still no evidence that any of spill found its way into the Yellowstone River.
Anyone traveling in the park is encouraged to explore alternate travel routes for obvious reasons. Park officials are working to reopen that stretch of roadway within a week. Until then, Mud Volcano is only accessible from the north and Fishing Bridge Junction is only accessible from the south and from the East Entrance.
