By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — About 500 to 1,000 gallons of liquid asphalt spilled Monday in connection with a tractor-trailer accident on Highway 97, two miles south of Highway 96 near the Robert E. Talbot Conservation Area.

Randall Willoughby, an emergency responder with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources at Springfield, said the spill did not threaten any waterways or the conservation area.

Willoughby, who visited the site in Lawrence County on Tuesday, said the hot asphalt cooled and hardened to form a 20-foot circular area in a farm field.

“It was shipped hot, but as soon as it leaves the tanker it begins to cool,” he said. “It was cool enough this morning (Tuesday) to put a footprint in it and have it stay. This was not a liquid running down the road. It stayed right there on the surface.”

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the truck is owned by Transwood Inc. of Omaha, Neb. The driver was not injured. The cleanup is being conducted by a Springfield contractor hired by the trucking company.

Willoughby said the hardened asphalt was being lifted by backhoes into dump trucks on Tuesday and being hauled away.

The department’s Environmental Emergency Response section was contacted Monday afternoon by the state patrol concerning the accident involving the tractor-trailer carrying an estimated 5,200 gallons of liquid asphalt.

According to the most recent data, vehicle accidents account for 15 percent of the environmental emergency incidents reported to the department.

The department’s Environmental Emergency Response section is called to the scene of more than 300 emergencies each year, including fires, traffic accidents, leaking storage tanks and other incidents that could have a negative environmental impact. The department’s 24-hour spill line receives more than 1,600 incident reports annually.

Emergency number