KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Norfolk Southern has fulfilled promises to reimburse local agencies’ expenses from a Sept. 15 derailment, the Knoxville News reported.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars already have been sent, and more is on the way.
Last week, Knox County got a check for $48,626.30 from the railroad company, said John Werner, director of finance for the county. About $43,500 of that amount was for overtime hours logged by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Cleaning of deputies’ uniforms accounted for another $370.
Werner said unspecified security costs totaled $3,333, and the county engineering and public works department logged $1,348 in overtime hours.
Although the Sheriff’s Office helicopters were used extensively to monitor movement of the harmful acid fumes through the air, the railroad was not billed for the choppers’ use.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Martha Dooley said the federal program that made the helicopters available to law enforcement forbids the agency from charging for their use.
A tough winter that consumes school snow days could cost Norfolk Southern another $135,970, Werner said.
The toxic cloud caused by the 10,600 gallons of sulfuric acid spilling from a ruptured tanker forced the evacuation of 3,000 people in Farragut and West Knox County. That prompted school officials to close schools in West Knox County for a day after the Sunday crash.
Werner explained that Knox County paid the salaries and daily benefits of 775 school employees who didn’t report to work. That won’t be a problem, Werner said, if Knox County isn’t forced to use all its scheduled snow days. If, however, winter is tough and all the snow days are used, the county will look to Norfolk Southern to cover the costs of closing schools because of the evacuations.
Farragut Town Administrator Dan Olson said Norfolk Southern already has paid its bill in full with a $268,918 check.
“The vast majority of that was for road repair,” Olson said. About 4,000 feet of Turkey Creek Road alongside the railroad tracks underwent repaving. A paved walking trail also had to be repaired. Heavy equipment used to untangle the twisted pile of 25 railroad cars and tankers was responsible for most of the damage.
Still outstanding are bills filed by Blount County and Rural/Metro.
A Norfolk Southern spokeswoman said last week a check had been sent to Blount County, but she declined to reveal the amount. Blount County officials said Friday they hadn’t received the check and were unable to say how much they had billed the railroad for costs associated with evacuating 1,000 residents downwind from the derailment.
Rural/Metro Chief Karl Keierleber declined to say how much Norfolk Southern was billed, but he said “our subscribers shouldn’t have to underwrite a major event such as this.”
“Anytime we have a hazardous materials run, we have an established rate of $1,000 per hour,” the chief said. Additional charges would include the $600 per hour per truck billed to nonsubscribers at house fires.
Keierleber did say Rural/Metro’s bill for its three days of service would not surpass the amount paid to Farragut by Norfolk Southern.
The site of the crash along Fort Loudoun Lake near Anchor Park in Farragut has not been entirely restored, officials said last week. Amanda Sluss, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said the railroad contacted her Friday about continuing environmental work.
“We must review the Norfolk Southern report on its cleanup work to deem it adequate before we can consider the site to be closed,” Sluss said. The cleanup report had not been filed last week.
The cause of the wreck remains under investigation by Norfolk Southern and the National Transportation Safety Board.