(The following story by Anna Simon of the Clemson Bureau appeared on the Greenville Online website on June 16, 2010.)
LIBERTY, South Carolina — Norfolk Southern will pay for the environmental cleanup, repairs to Old Norris Road due to heavy equipment traffic, and reimbursement of expenses to residents who were evacuated, who had damages to adjoining property, and to emergency, fire and law enforcement agencies working at the scene, Chapman said.
An estimate of the anticipated cost to the railroad wasn’t available Tuesday.
More than 200 families have contacted the railroad for reimbursement of expenses due to evacuation, Chapman said.
A claims center Norfolk Southern is operating at the Rosewood Center in Liberty will be open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. today. After that, residents can bring receipts to the Norfolk Southern office at 1120 W. Washington St. in Greenville.
The American Red Cross is providing meals, snacks and drinks to emergency workers and responders at the command post, said Sarah Dow, Pickens County director for the American Red Cross of Upstate South Carolina.
The first transfer of a hazardous material from a damaged derailed tanker was successfully completed, and crews began Tuesday to move hazardous materials from seven other derailed tankers.
Train traffic along the main rail artery heavily used by trains carrying cargo between New Orleans and New England will be suspended at times during the process, which should be completed today, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman.
Three tankers contain isopropyl, a flammable alcohol-based liquid that spilled from one of the tankers in the derailment and was the primary reason for an evacuation Thursday of 436 homes in a one-mile radius of the 24-car derailment near Farmers Hill Road and South Norman Street.
An estimated 15,000 gallons of about 20,000 gallons carried in the tanker spilled and soaked into the ground, Chapman said. Norfolk Southern will remove the contaminated soil, Chapman said.
The other four tankers contain vinyl acetate, an industrial chemical that is a skin irritant and is potentially toxic, and ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, which are antifreeze and have industrial uses, said Rick Jardine, an Environmental Protection Agency on-scene coordinator.
LIBERTY — Norfolk Southern will pay for the environmental cleanup, repairs to Old Norris Road due to heavy equipment traffic, and reimbursement of expenses to residents who were evacuated, who had damages to adjoining property, and to emergency, fire and law enforcement agencies working at the scene, Chapman said.
An estimate of the anticipated cost to the railroad wasn’t available Tuesday.
More than 200 families have contacted the railroad for reimbursement of expenses due to evacuation, Chapman said.
A claims center Norfolk Southern is operating at the Rosewood Center in Liberty will be open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. today. After that, residents can bring receipts to the Norfolk Southern office at 1120 W. Washington St. in Greenville.
The American Red Cross is providing meals, snacks and drinks to emergency workers and responders at the command post, said Sarah Dow, Pickens County director for the American Red Cross of Upstate South Carolina.
The first transfer of a hazardous material from a damaged derailed tanker was successfully completed, and crews began Tuesday to move hazardous materials from seven other derailed tankers.
Train traffic along the main rail artery heavily used by trains carrying cargo between New Orleans and New England will be suspended at times during the process, which should be completed today, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman.
Three tankers contain isopropyl, a flammable alcohol-based liquid that spilled from one of the tankers in the derailment and was the primary reason for an evacuation Thursday of 436 homes in a one-mile radius of the 24-car derailment near Farmers Hill Road and South Norman Street.
An estimated 15,000 gallons of about 20,000 gallons carried in the tanker spilled and soaked into the ground, Chapman said. Norfolk Southern will remove the contaminated soil, Chapman said.
The other four tankers contain vinyl acetate, an industrial chemical that is a skin irritant and is potentially toxic, and ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, which are antifreeze and have industrial uses, said Rick Jardine, an Environmental Protection Agency on-scene coordinator.