NEWBURYPORT — State police say charges are forthcoming as a result of the four-vehicle accident that left two people in critical condition and shut down Interstate 95 for nearly eight hours, clogging traffic across the region on Monday.
As police work to complete their investigation, the Department of Environmental Protection said yesterday crews are about halfway done with the cleanup of gas and foam residue that came from a 10,000-gallon tanker that toppled onto its side as a result of the accident.
Police at the scene said the accident was likely caused by a single erratic driver who caused other vehicles to take evasive action. Salma Aguilar, of Everett, was driving a Ford Expedition that police said likely collided with a Honda Odyssey, sending it across the median and into the path of the tanker, the driver of which locked its brakes to avoid impact.
A state police spokesman yesterday said charges involving the crash are pending and will be made public by the end of the week. The only update on the conditions of two people ejected from the Expedition, including a 14-year-old from Chelsea, was that the incident remains a nonfatal accident that is still under investigation. Both were MedFlighted to Massachusetts General Hospital in critical condition.
In the aftermath of the spill of as much as 9,000 gallons of gas on I-95 north about a quarter-mile south of the Whittier Bridge, crews have worked to remove soil contaminated by the tanker spill and pump away tens of thousands of gallons of water contaminated from gas and foam that leaked into the Merrimack River.
"So far, 400 yards of contaminated soil have been removed, and that's halfway done," DEP spokesperson Joe Ferson said. "In addition, containment is still in place, and in the plastic booms are absorbent materials that must be changed frequently; 50 cubic yards of that material has been collected in plastic bags so far."
After the accident, officials contained most of the spill in the Merrimack by using two 750-foot containment booms.
In addition, DEP crews have filled one-and-a-half 20,000 gallon tanks with the mix of gasoline and contaminated water, Ferson said.
"One is full; the other is partially full," Ferson said. "We are awaiting a report from the owner of the tanker and accident report. We believe, at this point, the tanker was full and leaked its entire contents."
Ferson said it is hard to say exactly how long DEP crews will be staged along the highway removing contaminated materials from the Greater Newburyport area, but a better understanding as to the extent of the spill will be realized in the coming days.
"We will be doing additional assessments to determine the full extent of the impact," Ferson said. "A lot of times, there are accidents and the tankers are not full. This time, it was quite extensive. Crews did respond quickly, but this was a large spill."
Shortly after the accident, Director of Public Services Brendan O'Regan shut down two of the city's wells to prevent contamination of the city's drinking water. Since then, the drinking water supply has come from reservoirs.
The DEP will do testing on the wells with the intent to allow them to be reopened this morning.
"The wells were taken offline on Monday and will be retested early (today)," Ferson said. "We expect the test results later (today)."
"It's going to be some time and remain ongoing," Ferson said of the cleanup process. "As we clean, there can be disturbances and additional outfall of residue."
Ferson said rainy conditions can hamper cleanup efforts as additional residue is moved along by rainfall and into storm drains. He did note some of the gasoline spilled has evaporated.
"This process is going to go along at least for the near future," Ferson said. "We are going to be there for some time."
The Division of Marine Fisheries and Wildlife at the Newburyport Shellfish Purification Plant was also assessing the local impact yesterday.
"They will mainly be in shellfish areas," Ferson said. "We are moving on that; it is a slow removal."
