Alaska News

Another fuel truck overturns on Richardson Highway, but reportedly no diesel leaks out

A fuel tanker overturned Friday on the Richardson Highway, the latest in a string of such crashes – though this one didn't spill any fuel, according to a report by the Alaska State Troopers.

The semi truck pulling two loaded fuel trailers was operated by Big State Logistics, the Fairbanks-based company that recently settled with federal regulators over three fuel spills on the same highway.

[Fairbanks trucking company settles with feds after Richardson Highway fuel spills]

Truck traffic on the Richardson Highway, which runs from Valdez to Fairbanks, has increased since a 2009 pollution-reduction requirement that ultra-low sulfur diesel be used at North Slope oil fields. Valdez is home to one of two Alaska refineries that have produced the fuel.

On Friday, the Big State Logistics truck was heading north near Paxson on a “snow-covered road” when its rear tank trailer, with 4,000 gallons of diesel, slipped off the roadway and overturned, troopers said in an online dispatch that wasn’t posted until Saturday evening.

A crew that responded to the crash said no diesel spilled, according to troopers, who cited the driver, 52-year-old Jeffrey Hill of North Pole, for driving too fast for the conditions.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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