Projects and Research
Environmental Response and Restoration
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) works to protect and restore fish, wildlife, and their habitats when they are threatened or harmed by illegal oil discharges, releases of hazardous substances, or other environmental pollution. To accomplish this, we provide planning, preparedness, and environmental response leadership; conduct natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities with our federal, state, and tribal partners and other stakeholders; and provide scientific and analytical services to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs, other Department of the Interior bureaus, and interagency initiatives.
https://www.fws.gov/program/environmental-response-and-restoration/what-we-do
The Sauget, Illinois Industrial Corridor Sites (Sites) are contaminated with at least 34 hazardous substances, including pesticides, metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs were manufactured on a portion of the Sites, at the W.G. Krummrich Plant for nearly 100 years until Solutia’s chemical business was spun off in 1997, while other potentially responsible parties manufactured and disposed of various other hazardous substances throughout the Sites. The Sites consist of two separately identified areas: Sauget Area 1 and Sauget Area 2 and include a series of facilities, landfills, waste disposal areas, sludge lagoons, and contaminated waterways located around the Villages of Sauget, Cahokia, and East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois. The Sites have been proposed for listing under the National Priorities List for clean-up. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (ILEPA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) are overseeing various remedial actions by some of the potentially responsible parties at the Sites.
History
On August 10, 2008, a 20-inch diameter underground pipeline ruptured and discharged about 5,000 barrels of crude oil over a short period onto the surface and into a bottomland forest wetland complex. The wetland complex is situated in the floodplain of Elm Creek in rural southern Illinois. The response was immediate and the responsible party, Marathon, was able to contain the crude oil within a relatively small area of the wetland complex. It was necessary to construct dams and roads into the bottomlands to transport the heavy equipment that removed the oil from the surface water. The spill site was cleaned up under supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of updating webpages, so some content that was previously available is temporarily unavailable. Please contact the Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office for additional information.
History
On July 9, 2008 four Iowa, Chicago and Eastern (IC&E) railroad engines derailed into the Mississippi River two miles south of Guttenberg, Iowa as a result of a larger boulder on the tracks. The submerged engines leaked 2,108 gallons of diesel fuel and transmission oil that reached five miles downstream.
Oil leaked from the derailed engines and spill response activities impacted fish, wildlife and other natural areas. The spill was within waters that are managed as part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The Mississippi River ecosystem in Clayton County supports migratory birds and the federally listed endangered Higgins eye pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii), the candidate sheepnose mussel (Plethobasus cyphyus) and the candidate spectaclecase mussel (Cumberlandia monodonta). A mussel survey conducted after the cleanup found that there was a “significant mussel bed” present in the area of the derailment, and Higgins eye pearlymussels were also found in the area.
There were significant response related impacts to natural resources resulting from the removal and re-railing of the locomotives. The large boulder on the railroad tracks was blasted into the river, and landed in a mussel bed. A rock ramp constructed from the railroad grade out into the river to assist in the removal of the submerged engines filled over a mussel bed that contained state and federally listed endangered mussel species.
States
Iowa
On February 4, 2015, 15 cars from a Canadian Pacific train derailed into and along the Mississippi River two miles northeast of Balltown, Iowa. Fourteen tanker cars spilled an estimated 55,000 gallons of denatured ethanol into the Mississippi River and a nearby cold water stream. Three of the tanker cars slid down the railroad grade into the Mississippi River and onto freshwater mussel beds. Ethanol released from the derailed cars led to negative impacts to freshwater mussel beds that were found to contain state and federally listed species. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as co-trustees on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of updating webpages, so some content that was previously available is temporarily unavailable. Please contact the Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office for additional information.
States
Illinois
On December 13-14, 2010 a pipeline operated by Buckeye Partners, L.P. and owned by West Shore Pipe Line Co. discharged approximately 1,857 barrels of crude oil into a wetland near Lockport, Illinois. The affected wetland area is critical habitat for the endangered Hines emerald dragonfly (HED). The site also provides habitat for Blanding's turtle and migratory birds. The affected property is privately owned by Hanson Material Service Corp. and is part of a habitat conservation planning area.
As part of the response, oil/water and oil saturated soils were removed from the wetland. The Trustees initiated a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration and have reached a negotiated settlement with the responsible parties. The trustees propose to expand captive rearing for HED and restore habitat for HED, Blanding’s turtle and migratory birds.