Work to Begin to Excavate Soil Affected by Large I-5 Oil Spill

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Initial work has begun to excavate large amounts of oil-soaked soil that resulted from thousands of gallons of motor oil spilling from an overturned tanker on Interstate 5 in Centralia earlier this month.

Ron Holcomb, hazardous materials specialist with the state Department of Ecology, said roughly half of the 3,000 to 3,200 gallons of motor oil that were spilled from the tanker poured off the roadway. The northbound roadway was cleaned and all lanes opened the day of the spill, July 3, while the southbound lanes were unaffected.

Holcomb said that last week, staff members from National Response Corporation — the agency hired by the trucking agency of the overturned tanker — did some initial work to locate a fiber optic line near the affected area, to determine just how deep the oil soaked into the soil and to clean a culvert pipe that runs under all lanes of travel that oil flowed through.

He said Tuesday that this week would likely see the start in some preparatory work leading up to the excavation. Crews will work off Hobson Road where it runs parallel to I-5, with the road likely being closed down for chunks of time. It’s not clear how long it will take for crews to complete the work, with Holcomb noting that a pretty significant amount of soil will need to be removed and replaced. I-5 traffic shouldn’t be affected by the cleanup.

Department of Ecology personnel will ensure that the cleanup is completed to state standards, and the Department of Transportation — the owner of the affected property — also has their set of specifications that must be met, such as the conditions of the interstate’s northbound shoulder and in what state it’s left after the excavation work.



Holcomb said that the oil is not in danger of spreading, as it didn’t hit any sort of flowing water.

At 4:22 a.m. July 3, a tanker driven by Jeffery T. Anderson, 53, of Yelm was traveling northbound on I-5 when it went off the roadway to the right, struck a guardrail, crossed all three lanes of travel and overturned, resulting in a gash in a tank being hauled.

Anderson was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, with criminal charges pending.

The collision caused northbound travel to be diverted for much of the day, and miles of gridlock traffic down I-5 and the Twin Cities.