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By: Michael de Yoanna

Category: Panorama

Posted: September 8, 2009 10:58 AM

Tags: AGRICULTURE, Pets, shopping

How LaFarge Plans to Avoid Spilling More Asphalt Into the Poudre River

111px-lafargesvgThe last few weeks haven't been so good to the Cache la Poudre, a federal Wild and Scenic River that runs through Fort Collins, where two semi-trucks recently spilled roughly 10,000 gallons of hot liquid asphalt into the waters, triggering extensive cleanup operations. Now Lafarge West, the contractor paving Cameron Pass, says it will ban supply trucks from using a Poudre Canyon route for deliveries, reports the Fort Collins Coloradoan. The ban comes in the wake of a "safety stand down" order last week by the Colorado Department of Transportation, which continues until tomorrow to give Lafarge time to present a plan that ensures no more tankers will careen into the river---and, hopefully, no more truck drivers will be ticketed for careless driving. Lafarge plans to require subcontractor Transtank of Greeley to commit to alternative routes. Meanwhile, as unbelievable as it seems, officials say the spills didn't seriously damage wildlife habitat in the Poudre. "The stuff that went into the river doesn't go into solution very well...so I don't anticipate any problems," Ken Kehmeier, an aquatic biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, tells 9News.

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