In brief: Acid spill cleanup helped by freeze

Federal, state and company officials say cleanup efforts at the site of an eastern Idaho acid spill have so far been successful.

The plant manager at Calgary, Alberta-based Agrium Inc.’s phosphate processing plant about 10 miles north of Soda Springs said Wednesday that cold weather helped freeze the polluted water that gushed over a ruptured berm on Dec. 27. That likely kept much of the liquid from soaking into the ground.

“We pushed the ice into piles, hauled the ice back into the plant, and now we’re reusing the water,” said Charlie Ross, the plant manager, in a conference call with officials from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Associated Press.

Come warmer weather, Ross plans to take soil samples to measure how deep the spill penetrated the soil.

Nobody was hurt in the spill, in which enough acid-laced water to fill more than five Olympic-sized swimming pools spilled onto Agrium’s plant site and sloshed about a quarter-mile away before settling on a neighboring farmer’s field.

Federal officials say they’re satisfied with Agrium’s efforts.

Pocatello, Idaho

ISU considers action against prof

An Idaho State University official says the school plans to take action against a professor charged in federal court last week with falsely claiming that he mailed out a dangerous substance.

Thomas Hale, 61, was arrested in Salt Lake City and faces three felony charges for mailing a substance he claimed was hantavirus to a trustee overseeing his bankruptcy case.

Hantavirus, which is carried by rodents and can cause acute respiratory problems or death, has sickened at least 317 Americans and killed at least 93 since 1996.

“We are in the process of implementing a course of action in response to the court actions,” said Robert A. Wharton, academic vice president at the university. Hale is a history professor at the university and director of the school’s Oral History Project.

Hale is facing charges of committing a hoax with the threat of a dangerous substance, giving a false statement in the bankruptcy case and concealing his ownership of the Salt Lake City home. His trial has been set for March 5.

Portland

Woman who was AWOL released

Army Pvt. Suzanne Swift, who said she had been sexually harassed by officers and refused to return to duty in Iraq, was freed on Wednesday.

Swift, 22, had been confined at Fort Lewis in Washington since December after pleading guilty to being absent without leave as part of a plea agreement with the Army, which included a demotion.

Swift served in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005. Her unit was sent back to Iraq in January 2006, but she refused to go and stayed away for about five months.

Swift said that her supervisor in Iraq coerced her into a sexual relationship, and that other superiors had harassed or abused her. The Army substantiated her allegations against one soldier at Fort Lewis. That soldier later left the Army after a reprimand from his battalion commander and reassignment to another unit.

Swift was arrested in June. Her plea, which came during a summary court-martial, helped her avoid a federal conviction.

As part of the plea agreement, she will remain in the Army for five years and could eventually earn an honorable discharge.

Seattle

Kidney missing from exhibit

Police are investigating the theft of a human kidney from a traveling science exhibit of preserved human corpses and body parts.

A manager for “Bodies … The Exhibition” called police Dec. 30 to report someone had taken the kidney.

The 21 cadavers and 250 organs in the exhibit are injected with liquid silicon rubber to preserve them. The bodies are skinned, cut open and arranged in various poses to expose muscles and organs.

The missing adult kidney was valued at $1,000, according to police reports. A security camera may have filmed the thief at the counter, police reports say.