MT Train Crash Effects Still Found In Yellowstone River Fish

The new release comes as health and wildlife experts are still monitoring water and wildlife after a bridge spanning the Yellowstone River in Montana collapsed, causing sections of a freight train carrying hazardous materials to fall into the rushing water below.

Drinking water intakes downstream were shut down while officials assessed the situation. No immediate danger was reported, as the hazardous material was being diluted by the swollen river. Emergency measures were implemented in neighboring Yellowstone County due to potential hazmat spill concerns.

The updated guidelines were released by the Montana Fish Consumption Advisory Board (FCAB), which is made up of representatives from the Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services (DPHHS), Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).

Due to high hydrocarbon levels, women of childbearing age, including nursing mothers, pregnant or potentially pregnant women, and young children (ages 0–6) are advised not to eat shorthead redhorse, a sucker family fish, from Bratten Fishing Access Site (FAS) to Itch-Kep-Pe Park in Columbus on the Yellowstone River. A class of compounds known as hydrocarbons is composed solely of hydrogen and carbon atoms. They might be anything from basic gases like methane to the intricate long-chain compounds present in crude oil. Hydrocarbons are found in nature and industry.

The FCAB acknowledges that fish species like shorthead redhorse are rarely consumed by humans. Using shorthead redhorse meat as bait when fishing for other fish species is not prohibited in this stretch of the river.

Results of the Sampling

In response to the train crash that released liquid asphalt into the Yellowstone River, fish species from the river were first examined in the summer of 2023 for human health issues.

Several hydrocarbons including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were found in fish tissue collected throughout the summer and fall of 2023 and the summer of 2024. It was not possible to identify the source of these pollutants.

On June 24, 2024, FWP staff most recently gathered fish at Otter Creek Holmgren Ranch (FAS) and Huntley on the Yellowstone River to keep an eye out for any issues related to human consumption. Since this sampling took place about a year after the initial one in 2023, environmental factors like temperature and water flow would have remained constant. At Otter Creek and Holmgren Ranch FASes, mountain whitefish of different lengths, longnose suckers, brown trout, and rainbow trout were gathered. Goldeye, shorthead redhorse, channel catfish, and smallmouth bass were all gathered at Huntley. Since the species found in the Yellowstone River vary depending on the ecosystem of the river, not all sites had the same species of fish caught.

From the summer of 2023 to the summer of 2024, the FCAB averaged the outcomes of all sampling attempts. The consumption of shorthead redhorse by women of childbearing age and children aged six and under was the only instance in which the acceptable amount of hydrocarbons was exceeded.

Limits for these pollutants were not exceeded by any other fish species. For a number of fish species on the Yellowstone River, the prior consumption advisories issued on August 11, September 19, 2023, and May 31, 2024, have been withdrawn.

Fish cannot be utilized to identify the sources of contaminants since they move around a lot in river systems. The purpose of the Fish eating Advisory Board's sampling was to examine potential hazards to human eating in fish tissue, not to identify a source of contaminants.

As of right now, the FCAB does not recommend further sampling in this area of the Yellowstone River due to potential health risks to humans.

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According to animal studies, the hydrocarbons found in the shorthead redhorse samples may have an impact on the liver, kidney, and blood when consuming large amounts of fish over an extended period of time. Humans have not been shown to have these side effects from eating fish. The majority of the chemicals found in fish gathered in 2023 and 2024, including those found in the samples of shorthead redhorses, have not been identified as carcinogenic.