News Release 557

DEPARTMENT RESOURCES RESPONDS TO SCENE
OF LINCOLN COUNTY TRAIN DERAILMENT

Volume 35-557

Contact: Larry Archer

(For immediate release)

573-751-3807

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, NOV. 28, 2007 -- Emergency responders from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources were called today to Lincoln County to assess the environmental impact of an accident that resulted in a train derailment.

The department's Environmental Emergency Response section was contacted by Lincoln County officials who reported that the train, owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, struck a tractor trailer at a crossing, causing the train to derail. Unknown amounts of diesel fuel spilled from the truck's fuel tanks into a small creek that eventually enters the Mississippi River.

The department dispatched a state on-scene coordinator from the emergency response station at Route 66 State Park to assess the environmental situation and to oversee the cleanup. The railroad and Deutsch Trucking have both contacted an environmental contractor to perform cleanup at the site.

The department’s Environmental Emergency Response section is called to the scene of more than 300 emergencies each year, including fires, traffic accidents, leaking storage tanks and other incidents that could have a negative environmental impact. The department's 24-hour spill line receives more than 1,600 incident reports annually.

To report an environmental emergency, including fuel spills, please contact spill line at
573-634-2436. For more information contact the Department of Natural Resources at
800-361-4827 or 573-751-3443, or visit the department's Web page at www.dnr.mo.gov.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

###