Tuesday, May 19, 2015

MAKING THE CHEAPSKATES PAY: STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY STEP IN ON UNION PACIFIC FUEL SPILL CLEANUP




MAY 19, 2015

SIDNEY, ILLINOIS

Union Pacific says it's doing its part to clean up an estimated 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled into a creek that winds through Sidney 2-1/2 weeks ago.

Whether it's done enough, however, may ultimately be for Attorney General Lisa Madigan to decide.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency requested that Madigan's office intervene in the matter after charging that Union Pacific failed to properly clean up the fuel, which it says continues to pollute the Salt Fork River.

On Monday, an IEPA spokeswoman added, the agency is also planning to seek an interim injunction in Champaign County Circuit Court that would require the railroad to perform "further mitigation activities."

"The Attorney General will serve as our attorney in determining penalties and fines against the company," IEPA spokeswoman Kim Biggs told The News-Gazette Monday evening.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the railroad has been cooperating with all regulatory agencies since May 2, when a St. Louis-bound locomotive spilled fuel while traveling across a bridge over the tributary to the Salt Fork River.

"The railroad has been working since the incident to clean up the spill," Davis said Monday. "All the agencies we have been working with have been pleased with our cleanup operation. Our environmental remediation team has been working on it since the incident."

Immediately after the incident, Union Pacific argues, it dispatched railroad contractor Environmental Restoration to Sidney to contain and clean up the spill. Booms, designed to skim the fuel off the top of the water, were placed across the width of the creek.

The process continues, said Sidney Fire Chief Earl Bennett, who watched workers haul in new booms Saturday. "The people from the railroad told me they are still working on it, and they said they expect to be finished before much longer," Bennett said.

But according to a complaint filed by the IEPA with the attorney general, Environmental Restoration "did not adequately boom the spill area to prevent further migration to waters of the state," presenting what Biggs said could be "a continuing risk of harm to the environment."

The complaint goes on to say that "Illinois EPA advised Union Pacific and its contractor that additional booms needed to be deployed; that a vacuum truck was required to recover diesel from the water of the tributary; that a recovery trench would be appropriate to intercept product still in soil and ballast around the rail line; and an underflow dam would be desirable."

According to the complaint, the railroad allegedly "caused air pollution and offensive conditions in the air; caused water pollution and offensive conditions in waters of the state; created a continued water pollution hazard in the soils and ballast; and discharged diesel fuel through the drain tile system without an appropriate permit."

Sidney residents have noticed one pleasant change in recent days — no longer does the stench of diesel fuel fill the air.

"The smell has gone down quite a bit from when the spill first happened," said Mayor Chuck White, who has also yet to see evidence of his initial fear — dead fish floating in the village creek.

The diesel-drenched soil near the source of the spill has also been taken away, White said.

"The EPA made the railroad remove a bunch of the dirt where the spill took place, and I have been told they took the soil to the landfill in Clinton," he said.
Still, White said he shares the IEPA's concerns that the railroad may not have moved quickly enough to respond to the spill.

"The contractor had some people there shortly after the spill happened, but, in my opinion, I don't believe they had enough people working on the cleanup during the first few days," White said. "I know a lot of people haven't been happy with their response time."

But since then, White added, "the contractor has brought in some extra people to do the cleanup."