[LMB] blue cheese dressing news

[alayne at twobikes.ottawa.on.ca]

I just couldn't resist -- and it isn't precisely OT: either.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070404/K040413AU.html

Train derails in southern California desert, spilling blue cheese dressing
Published: Wednesday, April 4, 2007 | 3:09 PM ET
Canadian Press

MECCA, Calif. (AP) - A train derailment in the Southern California desert 
spilled litres of blue cheese dressing into a canal leading to the Salton 
Sea.

Cleaning up the smelly mess will take a few days, Union Pacific officials 
said Wednesday. The 52-car train was carrying a variety of cargo from 
Dupo, Ill., to Los Angeles, said Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona.

Nineteen of the cars derailed, dumping bulk containers of the dressing, 
other food products and concrete sealant. The cause of the Tuesday 
afternoon derailment and the amount of materials spilled had not been 
determined.

The spilled dressing and other materials flowed into the Coachella Canal 
about two kilometres from the north shore of the Salton Sea, hazardous 
materials specialist Robert Becker said.

"There was blue cheese - a lot of it," Becker said.

The canal was dammed and there was no threat to the salty Salton Sea, 
Becker said.

The train's three crew members were uninjured but a Riverside County 
firefighter was taken to a hospital for treatment of heat exposure, 
Battalion Chief Jorge Rodriguez said.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

-- 
Alayne McGregor
alayne at twobikes.ottawa.on.ca

"I carry no special brief for government -- many years of studying the Texas Legislature will
disenchant anyone. But if you are put in charge of government, the least you can do is run it well."
-- Molly Ivins (1944-2007)