CNN
—
Maine’s environmental well being company is warning a rail community that it’ll take over cleanup efforts on the web site of a prepare derailment that occurred final weekend close to Rockwood – a village that borders Maine’s largest lake – if the corporate doesn’t make enhancements to fulfill its requirements.
The Maine Division of Environmental Safety (DEP) mentioned the Canadian Pacific Kansas Metropolis (CPKC) rail community didn’t observe instructions established by the division and spilled an estimated 500 gallons of diesel gasoline into the encircling setting and close by waters in Somerset County throughout its cleanup of a fright prepare derailment.
The Rockwood Hearth and Rescue Division mentioned the prepare derailed north of Rockwood, a village that borders Moosehead Lake – the biggest physique of recent water within the state. The rail community was inaugurated the day earlier than the derailment and mixed railways in Canada and the US to create “the primary single-line railway connecting Canada, the U.S., and Mexico,” in keeping with a press launch.
Three locomotive engines and 6 rail automobiles carrying lumber and electrical wiring had been derailed April 15, inflicting a small forest hearth and injuring no less than three individuals, CNN beforehand reported. CPKC officers contained the fireplace and eliminated all prepare automobiles from the location, together with these containing hazardous supplies, in keeping with the DEP.
Final week, a spokesperson for the rail community mentioned the freight prepare was carrying hazardous supplies, however the prepare automobiles carrying the hazardous supplies didn’t derail and weren’t concerned within the hearth. The Maine Forest Service additionally mentioned rail automobiles transporting hazardous supplies didn’t derail.
Officers mentioned the derailment doubtless was brought on by a washout of ice and particles on the tracks.
Maine’s environmental czar Melanie Loyzim despatched a letter to the rail community Thursday, saying it has “failed to fulfill division requirements concerning the timing and response of cleanup actions with a view to successfully mitigate impacts to the setting and public well being” within the week for the reason that derailment.
“That spill saturated the soil, overcame native protecting measures, corresponding to booms, that had been within the native waterway and migrated to Little Brassua Lake the place sheening was vital for a short time, although protecting measures on the lake interface had been profitable in gathering the recoverable quantities of gasoline,” Maine’s DEP mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
In an announcement to CNN Saturday, the CPKC mentioned it is going to “stay dedicated to the complete restoration of the derailment web site and full clean-up of the affected setting.”
“Our complete response to this incident won’t finish till that restoration and clean-up has been accomplished,” the rail community mentioned. “CPKC crews are on the bottom working in full cooperation with the Maine Division of Environmental Safety, and different companies, as we’ve for the reason that derailment occurred.”
Loyzim, Maine’s environmental commissioner, highlighted two company necessities the rail community failed to stick to in the course of the cleanup course of: emptying the locomotive saddle tanks containing gasoline earlier than shifting them to forestall any spills and failing to take away two rail automobiles containing hazardous materials away from the location in a well timed matter.
The DEP mentioned if the corporate fails to deal with these issues, the company will take over managing the elimination and clean-up efforts on the firm’s expense, in keeping with the letter.
“The Division is ready to imagine accountability for this clean-up effort given CPKC’s failure to fulfill the clean-up necessities put forth by the Division, nevertheless the Division would like at this juncture to proceed to work with CPKC in addressing the cleanup in a immediate, environment friendly and coordinated method,” the commissioner mentioned in Thursday’s letter.
CNN reached out to the division Saturday about any issues to public well being and security and didn’t obtain a direct response.
CPKC mentioned in its assertion that Maine DEP personnel have been on the web site every day and noticed the evaluation by the rail community’s mechanical groups that decided the gasoline tank “was empty earlier than the locomotive was moved.”
“When the locomotive was righted, residue gasoline leaked into the protected containment space beforehand arrange across the locomotive,” CPKC mentioned.
The DEP mentioned hazardous supplies workers will stay on the web site via the weekend because the cleanup continues. It mentioned the division “will help CPKC with creating a plan to remediate the oil-contaminated soil on the derailment web site.”
Biologists from the Maine Division of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) are planning to revisit the derailment web site subsequent week, the DEP mentioned, to watch progress on the cleanup and assess the impacts to fish, wildlife and their habitats. Previous to the gasoline spill in the course of the firm’s clean-up efforts, it was decided there was no influence to fish or wildlife from the derailment.
