Taxpayers will have to foot the bill to clean up the lingering mess of a crashed truck on U.S. Highway 550 near Cascade Creek after the Texas-based trucking company responsible for the incident stopped responding to calls and letters from authorities.
On Aug. 22, a 2007 Freightliner headed south rolled onto its top near mile marker 53, close to the hairpin turn at the base of Coal Bank Pass, and became fully engulfed in flames.
The driver, 32-year-old Julio Rivera-Icezalaya – working as a private carrier for his own company, JI Rivera LLC, based in Houston – was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center with moderate injuries. Authorities later cited Rivera-Icezalaya with careless driving for failing to negotiate the turn.
The truck was hauling gilsonite, a substance used as a road base for asphalt, not considered an environmental hazard.
Still, hazmat crews immediately responded to the scene to clean up any diesel fuel that wasn’t burned in the fire. And, a berm was built to prevent substances or materials from getting into Cascade Creek, a tributary of the Animas River.
For more than a month, however, a burned debris pile with truck parts, tires and other waste has sat off to the side of the highway, prompting concerns that rain could sweep the mess into the creek.
Colorado State Patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll had the same concerns and said authorities have been working relentlessly to resolve the situation and get the mess cleaned up.
But there have been complications, he said.
Rivera-Icezalaya had only enough insurance to cover the costs of removing the truck, but not the lingering mess. Over the past month, authorities have tried to get his company to fund the clean up, but Rivera-Icezalaya has stopped answering phone calls and letters, Driscoll said.
“They basically walked away from it,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get a hold of them to get the mess out of there, to no avail.”
Rivera-Icezalaya was contacted for this story, but he quickly hung up once The Durango Herald starting asking about the crash.
CSP and the Colorado Department of Transportation met last week to discuss how to get the debris piled cleaned. Both agencies said using taxpayer money was a last resort, but unfortunately, it has come to that, said CDOT spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes.
“We tried to do our due diligence in trying to make sure the taxpayers didn’t foot the bill, which is one reason it’s taken this much time,” she said. “We realize we need to do something about it; we were just hoping the trucking company would take care of it.”
Schwantes did not know how much it would cost CDOT to clean the mess, most of which will be for equipment and hours worked.
A careless driving citation carries a $169.50 penalty and four points on a license. Driscoll was unaware if Rivera-Icezalaya has paid the fine. He said authorities are aware Rivera-Icezalaya has retained an attorney for the situation.
He said authorities are in the process of revoking Rivera-Icezalaya’s right to operate in Colorado. And, a case has been opened by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is expected to conduct an audit on Rivera-Icezalaya’s company and could lead to him going out of business.
“Hopefully, because of his under-insured status, they will yank his operating authority nationwide, essentially putting him out of business,” Driscoll said.
Driscoll said uninsured and under-insured drivers are a common problem for Colorado authorities. He cited several crashes on Wolf Creek Pass that required taxpayer dollars to clean up.
“It’s a burden for all of us,” he said. “And these companies think they can just get away with it.”
Driscoll said CSP and CDOT are awaiting a permit from the U.S. Forest Service to start cleanup work. He expected it should start within the week.
“We’ve been working on this since day one,” he said. “But it’s one of those things that unfortunately takes time.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
