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Two Wisconsin Train Derailments Spill Ethanol, Crude Oil

The spills included more than 18,000 gallons of ethanol and less than 1,000 gallons of oil.

A Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed Sunday, spilling less than 1,000 gallons of crude oil and prompting evacuations in Wisconsin, the second day in a row a freight train derailed in the state.

Thirteen cars of an eastbound CP train went off the tracks around 2 p.m. in Watertown, in the southeastern part of the state, the railroad said. One tank car was punctured and leaked oil.

The company said in a statement late Sunday night that the leaking car had been sealed, the spilled product was contained and had been siphoned off, and no product had reached a waterway. The company was working to confirm the exact amount of spilled crude but said it was no more than 1,000 gallons.

No fires or injuries were reported.

Federal Railroad Administration investigators were at the scene, the agency tweeted.

Residents of about 35 homes were asked to evacuate around 4 p.m., said Donna Haugom, director of the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management.

CP said in its statement that it had reserved hotel rooms for all affected family.

The incident came a day after a freight train derailed near Alma in western Wisconsin, spilling thousands of gallons of ethanol. BNSF Railway said crews continued Sunday to transfer ethanol from the derailed cars and get the cars back on the tracks.

The BNSF train derailed at 8:45 a.m. Saturday about two miles north of Alma, a town along the Mississippi River. Some of the 25 derailed cars were empty auto racks and tanker cars.

BNSF said railroad crews stopped the leaks from five tanker cars and placed containment booms along the shoreline. One tanker released an estimated 18,000 gallons of ethanol, and the other four released an estimated 5 to 500 gallons each.

No one was hurt. BNSF said it expects the tracks to return to service Monday morning.

A statement from the Railroad Administration said officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Natural Resources were responding.

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