CSX agrees to new EPA order for clean up of train derailment

PHILADELPHIA– The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that CSX Transportation Inc. has agreed to clean up and restore the areas affected by last month’s train derailment in Mount Carbon.

CSX and CSXT operated the train comprised of two locomotives and 109 tanker cars headed from North Dakota to Yorktown, Va. Twenty-seven cars derailed from the train carrying more than three million gallons of crude oil from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota.

The Feb. 16 derailment, which occurred near the Fayette County border with Kanawha County, resulted in an explosion, fires, loss of a house and required nearby residents to evacuate.

According to the EPA, the settlement signed by CSX and EPA was filed March 3 and replaces a prior order for cleanup and restoration.

CSX, which has committed significant resources to the derailment, has agreed to submit a comprehensive long-term plan within the next 21 days for cleaning up and restoring areas impacted by the derailment.

Also under the agreement, CSX will continue the shorter-term cleanup efforts that are already underway. This includes air and water monitoring and testing; recovering oil from Armstrong Creek, the Kanawha River and their tributaries and shorelines; and educating residents about the potential effects from the incident including potential health threats, protective measures, wildlife preservation, and claims and notification procedures.

“The agreement between CSX and EPA provides a framework within which CSX can work, with oversight from EPA and West Virginia, to ensure that oil contamination from the derailment in Mount Carbon continues to be safely contained and that long lasting impacts are mitigated to protect human health and the environment,” EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin said in a statement.

The EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection have worked closely together to ensure proper cleanup, and minimize any immediate or lasting environmental impacts.