More big environmental fines for Pan Am - ED

[MEC407]

Pan Am Railways has been fined $121,000 by the state Department of Environmental Protection for failing to properly assess and clean up hazardous materials at the East Deerfield rail yard and the former Lake Asphalt facility.

''The failure of the railroad companies to comply with their environmental obligations is unacceptable,'' said Michael Gorski, director of the state DEP's Western Regional Office in Springfield.

Read more at: http://www.recorder.com/story.cfm?id_no=6274712

[artman]

I guess the fact that no one feels compelled to speak about this indeed speaks volumes

[MEC407]

From GazetteNet.com:

Pan Am Railways will present its new draft report on how it plans to clean up the East Deerfield Rail Yard at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall.
. . .
The town and state have been overseeing the railroad’s cleanup of contaminated ground for several years now in the area long used by the Boston and Maine railroad.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.gazettenet.com/news/townbyto ... -rail-yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MEC407]

From GazetteNet.com:

After more than a decade, the East Deerfield Rail Yard on Railroad Avenue is finally getting cleaned up.

By spring, Pan Am Railways, owner of the rail yard, will place a cover system, also known as a soil cap, over the asbestos-impacted soils in the eastern portion of the rail yard site and continue monitoring the soil cap, maintaining at least 20 inches of cover over the area.
. . .
The site had been contaminated with historic releases of liquid asphalt, coal and wood ash used as fill across the rail yard, asbestos in the soil and the release of unknown hydrocarbons near the two monitoring wells. The major concern was that the contaminated areas would spread through the groundwater and into surrounding areas.

To address the contamination, Pan Am previously excavated the northern section. The railroad company will now place topsoil and grass over the affected area by the southern part of the site, where asbestos is still in the soil, Lynn Rose explained.
. . .
Between May and June, Pan Am expects to begin construction of the soil cover system to address the asbestos. By July, Pan Am will submit its Phase IV completion report documenting completion of construction to the state.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.gazettenet.com/home/10320851 ... -rail-yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[johnpbarlow]

Even though this news bit has nothing to do with East Deerfield, I'm bumping this thread to report a newly levied $20,000 DEP fine against Pan Am / B&M for environmental violations at the company's "city railroad facility" at 150 Millbrook St Worcester, MA. I'm guessing this is the former site of B&M's yard in Worcester? I guess this land did not get conveyed to P&W when it bought the RoW between CP-45/WUS and Barber's? If I understand the Worcester Telegram article correctly, Pan Am/B&M had agreed to do something to limit transient residents from camping where oil and hazardous materials had been released decades ago but either failed to act or was unsuccessful in its attempts to limit transient residency.

Here's a link to a Google aerial photo of the site between P&W track and I-190: https://www.google.com/maps/place/150+M ... -71.798731

Here's the link to the Worcester Telegram article: https://www.telegram.com/news/20190723/ ... -worcester