Bill fills need for hazardous material spill task force

I’ve been enjoying the recent patch of typical sub-zero Montana winter weather. The colder the snow, the easier it is to shovel. It was lucky that Rocky Creek was frozen over when 39 train cars derailed last week, dumping over 4000 pounds of coal into it, or the whole Gallatin watershed could have been contaminated.

When the 49 runaway train cars came down Mullen pass and exploded the cold weather in Helena in 1989 was both a blessing and a curse. At minus 25, the water that firefighters used to attempt to extinguish the fire froze, and the chemical reactions of the spilled hazardous m...