Acid-contaminated soil to be removed

WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- Authorities said soil contaminated by a hydrochloric acid spill along Interstate 80 will be dug up and taken to a hazardous materials landfill.
The spill on Friday morning sent three people to the hospital after they inhaled vapor from the acid leak. It also closed Interstate 80 for five hours and caused the evacuation of between 20 and 30 homes in the area.
Only one person, Shenango Township Patrolman Robert David, was hospitalized. He was released from UPMC Horizon on Saturday.
Police said the left front tire blew out on a flatbed truck owned by Superior Well Services of Fredonia and the truck overturned in the grassy median, spilling the acid from a tank mounted on the truck into the ditch in the median.
Authorities at first said about 250 gallons of acid escaped, but later estimates put that figure at between 400 and 600 gallons.
The state Department of Environmental Protection brought in The Weavertown Group of Houston, Pa., just south of Pittsburgh, to handle the cleanup. The company was expected to do the soil excavating over the weekend, but authorities said this morning they didn't know if the work was completed.