WILLMAR -- A railroad tank car leaked between 120 and 125 gallons of soybean oil on the ground while parked with other rail cars on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks on the west edge of Willmar Wednesday morning.
The soybean oil leaked because a cap under the car was off and the valve was partially opened, said Willmar Fire Chief Marv Calvin.
He did not know how the valve became partially opened, but he said he did not have any reason to believe someone had tampered with the valve.
Calvin said he received a call at 10:30 a.m. regarding a possible rail car leak, but the caller was uncertain about the type of product leaking from the car.
The car was sitting on the south track about one-half mile west of the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and County Road 5.
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Calvin said he drove to the scene and determined the clear-brownish liquid was soybean oil.
He said the fire department, the Kandiyohi County Hazardous Materials Team and Willmar Ambulance were called to the scene.
Calvin said the situation did not pose a public safety hazard, but was more of an environmental issue. The hazardous materials team was called because the team has equipment to contain the spill, he said.
"It gives us the ability to contain the leak and keep it where it's at,'' he said.
The cleanup was handled by a BNSF work crew and West Central Environmental Consultants of Morris, which is a contractor with the railroad, he said.
