Daily Inter Lake (Newspaper) - May 24, 2007, Kalispell, Montana OUTDOORS High wind challenge anglers I Showers A High 55 Low 35 V 1 COMPUTE May SERVING THE FLATHEAD SINCE 1889 50 cents Acid spill stops traffic intersection closed down during cleanup r By JOHN The Daily Inter Lake A broken jug of muri atic acid closed the inter section of Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve on Wednesday No one was injured in the The acid spill was cleaned and the inter section reopened day afternoon but not before blocking traffic for hours at the busy I It is unknown how the pug ended up broken in me I Muriatic acid is another for hydrochloric When Liz dent of Montana West Economic to work at its office she the broken jug which from a distance a plastic milk jjug in the intersection next to the A whitish vapor came from the A coworker jokingly told Marchi that she should remove the debris from the inter chiefly because the traffic was too The Evergreen Fire Department was called to the scene at about Evergreen including one trained in hazardous materials inci found the unmarked jug emitting the vapor with spilled liquid eating into the Evergreen Assistant Fire Chief Craig Williams They cordoned off a radius around the jug and called in the Kalispell Fire Department according to the accepted protocol at Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve Drive were blocked to public Karen Nichols Inter Lake EVERGREEN ASSISTANT Fire Chief Craig Williams inspects a plastic jug that was initially determined to contain an unknown substance that had spilled and was eating away at the asphalt and sending up a whitish vapor at the tion of West Reserve Drive and Whitefish Stage Road Wednesday Evergreen who first responded to the put an absorbent material on the spilled liquid to prevent it from streaming a nearby storm Hours the Kalispell Regional Hazardous Response Team sampled liquid and determined it to be muriatic which is also known as hydrochloric The which is very has many chemical including cleaning concrete and Fire department rials suits went into the cordoned area and tested the fluid with a paper to discover the liquid had a pH of 1 meaning it was extremely Kalispell Fire Chief Randy Brodehl Additional tests fied the fluid as muriatic There were 10 to 15 cubic centimeters of fluid inside the Brodehl Thats roughly a tablespoon or a little An undetermined amount of acid had oozed into the Muriatic or hydrochloric acid is very It can damage skin and intestines upon including ing and The firefighter cians provided blood pres pulse and respiratory readings before and after they entered the cordoned off area for medical track ing They also used a bing tent to clean off after leaving the The Glacier Bank branch at that corner closed late in the morning since cus tomers could not reach the Montana West and Payne Financial Group stayed open next to the although office employees expected no foot MEMBERS OF the Kalispell Regional Hazardous Response Team prepare to test the contents of a plastic jug that spilled onto Drive Wednesday The men at in the blue suits are gathering a sample of the while the two men in the decontamination tent are assisting with the tests and After the team neutral the muriatic the intersection was The intersection was closed for about 4 Utility looks at options NorthWestern faces several choices after PSC vote By MATT COURAS The Associated Press HELENA If the Public Service Commissions move denying the sale of North western Energy to foreign investors main utility will have some decisions to The company could appeal the order and ask the PSC to reconsider its decision yv to deny the sale to Brown Infrastructure of If Northwestern could chal lenge the ruling in court a case that could take years to sort Its uncertain BBI would stick Northwestern said Wednesday it still needs to see the final PSC to be issued after a vote as early as next before it makes a The question to me will BBI pursue all of this or will they just walk away said PSC commis Ken Thats a big They may just walk away and say we are not going to do The utility could also decide to stay a standalone Or whose investors pushed for the sale could start looking for other suit A group seeking to turn it into a public utility said Wednesday it may be inter ested again if the utility comes on the In the regula tors say their move to reject the sale to BBI has little impact on I dont think it really means a lot in terms of their Toole See OPTIONS on Page A3 Board backs Starling project By JOHN The Daily Inter Lake i The Kalispell Planning Board gave thumbs up Tuesday to the potential Starling proj ect despite protests from neighbors that the review process is going too fast for adequate public The board is recommend ing that the onesquaremile project be granted an residential zone with modifications for some multifamily buildings and neighborhood commercial sites when the developer The Aspen Group seeks into An des ignation puts the minimum lot size for a house at That annexation request is tentatively expected to go to the Kalispell pity Council on June The board also recom mended Tuesday that the council approve preliminary plans for Starlings first phase covering the northeast acres of the nestled against the tion of Stillwater Road and West Reserve The first phase proposes 131 98 and seven mul buildings that would Hold 64 The Starling project named after the late matri arch of the Grosswiler fam ily that owns the land is expected to be developed in 15 phases over 20 Its located west of Glacier High The Aspen Group esti mates it eventually will the home of to which would be 30 to 40 percent of cur rent I dont think the city has seen anything like this city planner Sean Conrad See STARLING on Page A3 Kristine Inter Lake MARC of speaks out against the Star ling development Tuesday night as Greg Stratton of The Aspen and Mitch Black of Norns Design The Plan ning Board gave a favorable recommendation to the Three great One great ALPINE 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