Friday, July 31, 2015

Cleanup and water monitoring continue at Maryville, TN CSX train derailment






Authorities continue to monitor air and water near the site of a July 1 train derailment in Maryville while train car loads of contaminated dirt are hauled away.

CSX officials in a news release Wednesday said testing has not revealed any lingering contamination from the 24,000 gallons of acrylonitrile that spilled from the punctured tanker car.

CSX representatives are working with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to monitor surface and ground water and air around the derailment site.

Officials said state authorities have approved a monitoring schedule for surface water in the area. No indications of acrylonitrile have been detected in surface water, according to CSX.

Railroad representatives sank 25 monitoring wells near the derailment site to inspect groundwater samples for any traces of the chemical, which is used in the manufacturing of plastics.

Workers on Wednesday began loading soil removed from the derailment site onto train cars. The excavated soil was stored at the Armona Road staging area until it could be shipped out. CSX officials said all the soil from the Armona Road site should be gone by the end of the week.

Officials installed air monitoring devices at the Armona Road site to ensure the soil movement doesn’t spread remnants of the acrylonitrile into the air.

Once all that soil is shipped out, workers will begin removing excavated soil at the Old Tabor Road site. Authorities have not said how much soil was excavated during the remediation efforts.

The 11:50 p.m. derailment forced the evacuation of an estimated 5,000 residents within a 2-mile radius of the crash site. The evacuation lasted two days.

Authorities said it appeared a broken wheel axle punctured the tanker, allowing the flammable chemical to leak. The same action, authorities said, apparently provided the spark that ignited the leaking chemical. The chemical burned for 19 hours before emptying the contents of the tanker.

CSX Sucks