Cleanup crews were trying on Saturday to contain petroleum that leaked from a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river that had recently been restored for salmon runs.
Preliminary estimates say about 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of mostly gasoline and some diesel spilled into Indian Creek, a fragile salmon habitat, after the truck crashed on Friday, according to a release from the state Department of Ecology.
U.S. 101, west of Port Angeles, was closed overnight but reopened Saturday morning, and the truck was pulled from the creek, the Department of Transportation said on its Facebook page. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.
“The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct shoreline assessments today to monitor for environmental impacts,” ecology officials said. “The Department of Health is also collecting water samples for further analysis.”
A message sent to the tribe seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Officials monitoring air quality levels in the area said they were not at unsafe levels on Saturday, but encouraged people in the area to watch for symptoms like headaches or dizziness and seek medical attention if needed.
Gov. Bob Ferguson called the accident “devastating” in a statement released Friday.
“This spill is nothing short of heartbreaking for local tribes and other Washingtonians who rely on clean, healthy rivers and streams for their food and livelihoods,” Ferguson said, adding that he planned to monitor the situation and would visit the site in the next few days.
Transportation officials posted a photo on Facebook that showed the tanker truck upside down in the creek, while emergency vehicles surrounded the scene.
Two dams on the Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, were removed more than a decade ago after a long-fought battle by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams, which were constructed in the early 1900s, opened about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead.
Biologists have said it will take at least a generation for the river to recover, but within months of the dams' removal, salmon already started recolonizing sections of the waterway long closed off to them.
The Elwha River is also the main potable water source for Port Angeles. The city announced Friday afternoon that it was temporarily shutting down its water treatment processing operations and asked residents and businesses to limit their use of water.
“The City’s reservoirs currently have sufficient water supply for the next 18 to 24 hours without interruption to normal service,” the city’s statement said.
This photo provided by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down in the Olympic Peninsula on Friday, July 18, 2025, spilling fuel into a tributary of an river that was recently restored for salmon runs. (Washington State DOT via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta.
A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
