Back to the BYU Cougars Newsfeed

Train derailment sends 45 tons of coal into Price River near Scofield Dam

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is testing to make sure water in the Price River near the Scofield Dam is safe after a train derailment last weekend dumped approximately 45 tons of coal upstream from two drinking water intake facilities.

Eight cars from the Union Pacific Railroad train derailed about 1 a.m. Sept. 22 in a section of the river in Carbon County, known colloquially as Fish Creek, DEQ southeast district engineer Scott Hacking said. About 180 tons of coal spilled, but only about a fourth of that fell into the river.

Officials aren’t sure what caused the derailment, Hacking said.