Tuesday, November 27, 2007

4,000 Gallons Of Anhydrous Ammonia Spilled South Of Dorchester

The Lincoln Journal Star is reporting that about 4,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia was spilled Saturday in Saline County, well south of Dorchester. The article states that officials believe someone intentionally opened the valves on four tanks north of Swanton, according to Saline County Emergency Manager B.J. Fictum. Two of the transportable tanks, the kind that would be pulled behind fertilizer applicators, were a quarter mile from the other two.

Anhydrous ammonia is stored as a liquid under pressure. When released to the environment, it becomes a toxic gas. Anhydrous ammonia is also a key ingredient in the illegal production of methamphetamines (meth).

“We believe it was criminal mischief,” Fictum said. “Fortunately, there were no residents in the path of the plume." Ammonia could be smelled three miles away and a cloud of fumes was visible near the site. “It’s a good time to warn people, if you smell ammonia and you see something that looks like a fog, don’t drive into it,” he said, because fumes could cause a car to shut down, and could injure passengers. The spill was large enough to be classified as a hazardous materials incident, Fictum said.

The tanks were owned by the Farmers Cooperative of Dorchester. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 345-3361 or the Saline County Sheriff’s office at (402) 821-2111. Also, we encourage farmers and retailers to read the many online sources that outline ways to secure anhydrous ammonia tanks.

2 comments:

  1. The co-op should have cameras, lighting and 8 foot fences around the anhydrous tank storage areas. I'm suprised there's no state or federal law on this. Worse than drug makers think about terrorists getting their hands on that stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with bob ...... for once.

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