Tuesday, May 12, 2015

UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD IN HOT SEAT AFTER FUEL SPILL. THE CHEAPSKATE UNION PACIFIC DIDN’T DO ENOUGH TO STOP THE LEAK AND CLEAN UP THE SPILL




TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

SIDNEY, ILLINOIS

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says Union Pacific Railroad has failed to properly clean up diesel fuel that leaked from one of its trains into the Salt Fork River in eastern Illinois.

The agency asked the state's attorney general Friday to compel the railroad to do more to mitigate the May 2 spill near the village of Sidney in Champaign County.

Railroad spokesman Mark Davis says the company's cleanup contractor has been at work since the incident and its environmental team would continue to cooperate with federal and state agencies.

The diesel leaked from fuel tanks on three locomotives.

Village President Chuck White tells The (Champaign) News-Gazette that at least 2,000 gallons was released.

The state EPA says the Union Pacific contractor failed to contain all of the fuel.
 It’s unclear exactly what the consequences will be, but the company has been cited for polluting the creek which runs through the town.

It has been known for many years in the environmental profession that the railroads are among the dirtiest and filthiest operations:  from fuel oil spills, to derailments, to leaks, to spraying lubricants and PCBs and other chemicals along their right of way.  

They are also pretty much untouchable, because it is an operating business and the contamination cannot be cleaned up.  This means that significant amount of pollution originates from the railroads and is never cleaned up:  it just seeps into the ground or runs off.