Welcome to Alberton, Montana: Anatomy of a Toxic Train Wreck. The e-book is now available at Amazon as of Earth Day, April 22, 2020:

Alberton, Montana: Anatomy of a Toxic Train Wreck

The archives on this site will be limited to samples in the menu above.

Book Overview:

Part I – The Spill: An MRL train derails near Alberton, Montana, resulting in tank ruptures including chlorine gas. One thousand people are evacuated for 17 days as workers struggle to contain the chlorine leak.

Part II – Aftermath: When spill victims return home after the 17-day evacuation, many residents report chemical odors that trigger symptoms. Some people find it intolerable to return home.

Part III – The Long Haul: Having been told to expect complete recovery, many spill victims instead experience chronic illness. Some embark on a journey to get medical and financial help from the government, and answers to questions about their exposures.

Part IV – Light at the End of the Tunnel: Having received no meaningful help from local, state and federal agencies, organized spill victims petition the National EPA Ombudsman, who agrees to an investigation and ultimately a public hearing.

Part V – Derailed: The National EPA Ombudsman, and his Alberton chlorine spill case, face jeopardy as the EPA seeks to greatly weaken his capacity to conduct investigations into EPA Superfund sites.

Part VI – The Last Train: This section examines Alberton chlorine spill litigation and the main two frontlines of medical injury and liability, culminating in the Austin v. MRL trial. This ends the narrative arc of the book.

Part VII – Testimony: Alberton spill victims speak to the chronic illness they have experienced.

Part VIII – The Next Train: Lessons learned from the Alberton chlorine spill, most of which have never been publicized.

I hope you will find interesting and helpful this detailed account of the catastrophic 1996 train derailment and chlorine release outside the small railroad town of Alberton, Montana. This book chronicles the saga of the spill, evacuations and the response, as well as the aftermath for the injured victims, many of whom sought answers to the chronic illness that forever changed their lives.

The western edge of Montana suggests the profile of a face, with Alberton in the “eye,” deep in the folds of the Rocky Mountains. Thirty miles to the east lies Missoula, the second-largest city in Montana. The 1996 derailment punctured a tank containing 180,000 pounds of liquid chlorine. Chlorinated gases soon spread in all directions of the narrow mountain valley, overtaking nearby sleeping communities. The derailment occurred on the border of sparsely populated and relatively poor Mineral County–home to Alberton–and much larger Missoula County. But the gas knew no boundaries.