Source: Daily Press (Newport News, VA), February 24, 2015
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
Virginia’s environmental regulators want to fine CSX Transportation $361,000 for the April 2014 derailment in Lynchburg that spilled more than 29,000 gallons of oil into the James River.
The fine is part of a proposed agreement between the railroad and the state calling on CSX to restore the riverbank at the site of the derailment and to keep monitoring for oil seeping into the James.
Federal regulators are still investigating the accident — and have started investigating last week’s derailment in West Virginia of another CSX oil train that, like the Lynchburg train, was headed for Yorktown.
The Lynchburg derailment — which occurred on a stretch of track in downtown Lynchburg where federal rail inspectors found dozens of defects in the rails and trackbed — sparked a fire so intense that emergency crews had to simply let it burn itself out.
That fire consumed more than 90 percent of the oil spilled, the state Department of Environmental Quality reported when it disclosed the fine.
CSX has removed soil and gravel ballast from its trackbed at the site of the derailment, recovering 245 gallons of oil, the department reported.
About 390 gallons flowed into the river. That oil was never recovered and remains in the environment, the department reported.
As part of the agreement, CSX has already cut and removed dead and damaged trees from the site of the accident, and reseeded the area with wild rye, a kind of grass that grows 2- to 4-feet high. The railroad also has planted 100 black willow trees by the water and 100 sycamore trees farther up the slope of the river bank at the site of the spill.
CSX agreed to continue making monthly inspections of the river near the accident site, looking for any signs of oil on the water, as well as quarterly water samples from an area near the site where ponds of water had formed during the summer, and quarterly soil sampling from the area. That effort is to run through September.
The state had checked water quality for several days along the river from Lynchburg to Richmond and found no other environmental concerns at the time.
Its costs for that effort were $18,575, which CSX will repay.
The proposed consent order, which CSX has agreed to, must be approved by the State Water Control Board before taking effect. The public has until March 25 to comment.
The fine is for violating state law banning the release of oil into the state’s waterways. The law says it isn’t necessary for the state to show there was any negligence.
“We appreciate the productive working relationship with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and have agreed to the proposed consent order,” said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. “CSX continues its work to ensure that the derailment at Lynchburg has no lasting effects on the environment or the community.”
Federal safety inspectors are close to releasing additional findings of fact about it, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said last week.
Railroad worker unions have said they’re concerned that tracks are not in good enough shape to safely handle 100-plus-car trains carrying highly flammable oil from North Dakota’s Bakken field to Yorktown.