LEMOILLE, Minn. – Clean-up crews completed containment and recovery of a major chemical spill from a truck wreck that came within 300 feet of the Mississippi River. The accident involved 43,000 gallons of the pesticide glufosinate ammonium. The chemical, in solid form, was in a semi-truck unit that, brakes out, hurtled out of control and gaining speed down steep County Road 3. The fully loaded rig crossed foor lanes of U.S. 14 and rolled onto the Canadian Pacific rail line along the river. Thus was just short of riverside houses across the train tracks on Gull Lane. The driver was extracted from the tractor of the semi unit and taken to a LaCrosse hospital. This was about 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday. The Pickwick Fire Department arrived first. A commercial clean-up company was summoned immediately because of the scope of the spill and the proximity to the river. It was not believed that any herbicide entered the river.
Cleaning up solid herbiicide. At tracks along U.S. Highway 14 at Gull Lane, this within 300 feet of Mississippi River. Image: Pickwick Fire Department
Herbicide profile
Glufosinate ammonium is a synthetic organophosphate glutamine synthetase inhibitor and neurotoxin that is used as a herbicide. Although granular, it is highly soluble and volatile. The product is a white to light yellow crystalline solid with a slightly pungent odor. Exposure occurs by inhalation, direct contact or ingestion is dangerous.