(The following story by Steve Sanders appeared on the Leader Call website on September 27.)
LAUREL, Miss. — Jones County emergency management officials contend that Norfolk Southern Corp. was required to notify them of a seven-car Norfolk Southern Corp. derailment near Highway 11 in south Laurel on Sept. 19.
Norfolk Southern (NS) contends the derailment did not meet notification thresholds set by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA); therefore, notification was not required.
But Don McKinnon, director of the Jones County Emergency Operations Center, said Tuesday that one of the thresholds was met, and that NS was required to notify local emergency management officials.
In an e-mail to the Laurel Leader-Call Monday, Susan M. Terpay, director of public relations for NS, indicated otherwise. “Wayne Parrish of the Mississippi DOT determined that, according to Mississippi state law, NS’ reporting requirements to states are the same as those required by the Federal Railroad Administration,” Terpay wrote. “That means only incidents that involve leaking hazardous materials, loss of life or serious injury, are required to be reported.
“Don McKinnon of Jones County Emergency Management was incorrect in stating that NS was required to report the incident,” she said. “There has been no change to Mississippi law. NS followed the law and made all proper notifications.”
McKinnon said the money damage threshold requiring notification was met. “They were required to report the incident because there are some other things involved,” he said, “like the money amount; I would think they met that. Anybody could look and see how much damage was done. It’s pretty obvious that will go over (the threshold).” He said, “The property damage amount is the damage to NS’ property.”
Butch Swails, state rails engineer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), said there are several factors in which a railroad company would have to report a derailment. Those include levels of property damage, the number of rail cars involved, whether there are hazardous substances in the cars and loss of life or injury. Swails said he did not believe there was enough rail cars for the incident to be reported, and that he did not think the dollar amount of damage reached the threshold.
Swails, as did McKinnon, said he was notified of the accident “by the press” as a reporter with the Laurel Leader-Call asked for information regarding the derailment. “There was really nothing for us to investigate,” Swails said. “This was a very minor derailment. There were not enough rail cars or dollar amount to reach the threshold. They did not have to notify MDOT.”
McKinnon said last week that an Amtrak passenger train headed south stopped because of the derailment, and the approximately 200 passengers were taken by bus to Hattiesburg. He said the train turned around and went to Meridian.
According to an article in the Tuesday edition of The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot, Wayne Parrish, MDOT director of freight, rails, ports and waterways, said, “There was no requirement for notification.”
The article also said the derailment involved four empty cars. “I was there, I saw seven cars,” McKinnon said. He said the cars contained some kind of residue — possibly drilling mud residue.
McKinnon said Tuesday he still has received no official notification about the derailment.