Dump truck crashes near Cusick, spilling lead concentrate, fuel

A dump truck rolled in Pend Oreille County Tuesday morning, spilling lead concentrate and fuel along the highway.

The truck with a pup trailer hit a patch of ice just after 7 a.m. and slid off state Highway 20 about 5 miles north of Cusick, Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney said. The driver of the truck sustained minor injuries, Sevigney said.

The truck toppled over, causing the lead concentrate to spill along with 100 to 150 gallons of fuel, said Ty Keltner with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

There were no wildlife injuries and no waterways were impacted by the spill, Keltner said.

Arcadis, a contractor with the department of ecology, has been hired to do the clean up, Keltner said. The plan is to dig up and remove the contaminated soil, he said.

Keltner said there was not an estimated time the cleanup would take, as of Tuesday morning. The road has been intermittently blocked as clean up efforts begin, Sevigney said.