Tanker Spills Gasoline Into River

A tanker truck overturned on a highway west of downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon, spilling about 7,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline onto the highway.  Storm sewers carried some of the gas to an outlet on the Mississippi River a few miles away near the construction site for the replacement Interstate 35 bridge. Construction was halted as the state pollution control agency responded to the accident.  Long-term impacts should be minimal beyond some degradation at the point of entry, which is in a very impacted area in downtown Minneapolis. Moderate river flow will dilute the spill – gas is volatile and should vaporize rather than bind into harmful compounds in and along the river.  Some fish kill is expected.  Impacts to mussel beds are unknown at the time.