(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 16.)
Norfolk Southern Railroad will pay $575,000 in fines for environmental violations stemming from three train derailments and two fuel leaks in western Pennsylvania, state authorities said Wednesday.
“These accidents have disrupted the lives of area residents and came at the expense of the commonwealth’s rivers, land and air,” said Kenneth Bowman, southwest regional director of the Department of Environmental Protection.
The violations stem from derailments in Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland counties, and diesel fuel leaks at Norfolk Southern facilities in Beaver and Washington counties, the agency said.
Norfolk Southern agreed to pay the fines, company spokesman Rudy Husband said.
The Westmoreland train derailment occurred in January 2004 when 14 cars and two engines went off the tracks, dumping 600 gallons of lubricating oil, 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 1,360 tons of shell corn into the Kiskiminetas River in Bell Township, the department said.
In January 2005, 200 residents of East Deer Township in Allegheny County were evacuated following a 19-car derailment in which two tanker cars containing a caustic gas fell into the Allegheny River.
In October, a fiery 23-car derailment in New Brighton, Beaver County, dumped 485,000 gallons of denatured ethanol into the Beaver River. About 150 residents were evacuated.
The fines will be paid to the state’s Clean Water Fund. The company also will continue cleanup and remediation work at the New Brighton crash site.
The fines are not related to a June 2006 derailment in McKean County, when about 42,000 gallons of lye spilled, killing fish in several high-quality creeks.
The state Attorney General last month charged the train’s engineer and Norfolk Southern with environmental crimes in that accident. The DEP also is seeking $8.89 million in fines.
In a statement on its Web site, Norfolk Southern said it has spent nearly $4 million cleaning up the damage and hopes to “reach a satisfactory resolution” to the charges.