Norfolk Southern to pay $4 million

Norfolk Southern Railways have agreed to pay $4 million and make substantial repairs to the environmental infrastructure surrounding the immediate area impacted by the January 2005 train wreck and resulting chlorine spill.

The penalty was agreed upon to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and hazardous materials laws for the 2005 chlorine spill in Graniteville and will bring to an end the federal lawsuit between the Environmental Protection Agency and Norfolk Southern.

During the derailment, one of the train's tank cars was punctured and released chlorine gas. As a result, nine people died of chlorine exposure, and hundreds of people sought medical care due to respiratory distress. The incident resulted in the evacuation of more than 5,000 people living and working in the valley area of Aiken County.

Both spills of chlorine from the train cars and diesel from the engines were the focus of the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit filed in 2008, the EPA alleged that "chlorine discharged from the breached tank car, settled upon and was absorbed into Horse Creek, its tributaries and their adjoining shorelines, injuring and killing fish and vegetation."

State health and environmental officials said at the time of the wreck that chlorine may have traveled through a storm drain underneath the Avondale Mills textile plant. Several days later, state Department of Health and Environmental Control officials said chlorine levels in Horse Creek had returned to normal.

Norfolk Southern will be required to pay a civil penalty of $3,967,500 for the alleged CWA violations, and $32,500 will be deposited in the Hazardous Substance Superfund as a penalty for the company's failure to notify the EPA's National Response Center of the chlorine release.

The gas cloud settled over nearby Horse Creek and its tributaries and was absorbed into the water in sufficient quantity to kill hundreds of fish, EPA said Monday. Two of the engines involved in the crash leaked diesel fuel, a portion of which reached Horse Creek.

Under the terms of the agreement, Norfolk Southern will provide incident command system training to environmental and transportation personnel, stock nearby Langley Pond with at least 3,000 fish to replace fish killed by the chlorine spill and post the telephone number for the National Response Center to facilitate spill reporting.

Further, the settlement includes $100,000 to plant vegetation along the banks of Horse Creek to decrease erosion and sedimentation, thereby improving water quality in Horse Creek, the EPA said in a statement Monday.

"This settlement reflects the agency's commitment to ensure compliance with our nation's environmental laws," said Stan Meiburg, EPA acting regional administrator in Atlanta. "Companies have a responsibility to workers, emergency responders and the community to make sure a serious accident doesn't become a senseless tragedy."

"This agreement includes a significant civil penalty for the catastrophic chlorine spill, which resulted in loss of human life and damage to the environment, and ensures that those responsible are held accountable under the law," said Bob Dreher, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The lawsuit has been on hold since last summer as both parties asked the U.S. District Court to stall the case as an agreement was being worked out.

Monday's filing is a consent decree that is subject to a 30-day public comment period then court review and approval.

A copy of the consent decree will be available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

No specific start to the comment period has been assigned.

Contact Mike Gellatly at mgellatly@aikenstandard.com.