(The News-Register posted the following story by Mary Rohrig on its website on April 15.)
WHEELING, W.Va. — CSX Transportation officials are seeking approval from state environmental regulators that will confirm clean-up of a chemical spill that occurred a year ago at the Brooklyn junction railyard in New Martinsville is in compliance with health and environmental standards.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and CSX are negotiating a voluntary remediation and redevelopment agreement for the Brooklyn site.
On Jan. 15, 2002, the site was the scene of a chemical spill that leaked about 13,000 gallons of toluene, a cleaning solvent, from a tank car and into the ground.
CSX and its predecessors have owned the property since 1899.
“We’re using a remediation technique that is commonly used at gasoline stations,” said Keith A. Brinker, director of environmental remediation for CSX Transportation, Inc.
Toluene is an organic solvent that Brinker said also is a component of gasoline. The material was being shipped at the time of the incident by Ashland Chemical in Catlettsburg, Ky. to the OSi Specialties Group plant south of Sistersville.
A CSX employee discovered the leaking tank car as it was sitting on a side rail in the yard. The spill forced the evacuation of area businesses and homes as a safety precaution, and closed W.Va. 2 to traffic between the W.Va. 7 and W.Va. 180 intersections for about four hours.
According to Patty Hickman of the DEP Office of Remediation in Wheeling, the environmental issues that exist at the railyard site as a result of the spill require the voluntary agreement.
“CSX has a couple of options but they believe the voluntary program is their best one,” said Hickman. “The goal is to clean up the property to a level that will not pose a risk to human health or the environment.”
The program will include risk assessments to determine what contaminants may exist at the site and the impact over time that can occur to both human health and the environment.
Officials will work to obtain what Hickman described as the “De Minimis level,” meaning the amount of toluene existing at the site is at a level determined not to pose a risk to people or the environment.
Records documenting the work at the site are available for public inspection at the New Martinsville Public Library and the DEP office.