1970 LeRoy wreck and trichloroethylene spill

[sd80mac]

I dated a girl from LeRoy once... I have a bit of a headache today and now I know why. I'm calling Cellino & Barnes.

I knew Les through Rochester railfan yahoo...and this forum. since I first knew him, my symtoms had show up and had gotten worse... I'm calling "the hammer"!!!!! oh damn.. "the hammer" lost their license couple years ago!!!

LOL!!!!!!!!!

[pumpers]

Here's a recent article on Fox news that blames it on "mass hysteria" that it says women and girls are prone to have.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/0 ... -in-girls/.
Interviewing a doctor who says the symptoms might be psychological and not neurological (and thus not chemical-related) is good reporting, but the tone of article and headline seem to me as almost as rash as some of those blaming the spill. JS

[SST]

I think it was yesterdays news that there are corroded barrels that are fenced in [HAZMAT]. Here's a theory......maybe this group of girls came upon these barrels, got some serious exposure and now the parents are trying to cover up and get others to pay. Just a theory.....

Isn't the water provided to LeRoy via Rochester? Monroe County Water Authority? If that is so, then doesn't that eliminate hydrofracking? The water would originate from either the Genesee River or maybe Lake Ontario.....or both.

[scottychaos]

I think it was yesterdays news that there are corroded barrels that are fenced in [HAZMAT]. Here's a theory......maybe this group of girls came upon these barrels, got some serious exposure and now the parents are trying to cover up and get others to pay. Just a theory.....

thats *really* reaching..we have enough bizarre extremely implausible theorys as it is, we dont need to invent new ones!

Isn't the water provided to LeRoy via Rochester? Monroe County Water Authority?

Yes.

If that is so, then doesn't that eliminate hydrofracking?

No..because hydrofracking can introduce chemicals into the general environment, and people can still be exposed to those chemicals.
you don't have to drink the water to be effected by fracking chemicals..
although no one seriously believes that theory either..but for people who do believe that theory,
where the drinking water comes from is irrelevant, because its not about drinking water.

Whats ironic about this whole fiasco is that the cause is already known..and has been known for weeks..
no one wants to believe it though..

Scot

[roadster]

That's because there's no money in that explanation.

[joshuahouse]

Are we really going to be blaming people for conspiracy theories surrounding the health of their children? Especially when you consider the various conspiracy theories people throw out on here all the time? Things like, "there are three men buried in the salt mine in Himrod." or "such and such group is about to start running steam trains on the CSX mainline any day." etc.

[BR&P]

It's not the parents of the affected kids that's irritating, that's understandable. It's the limelight-seekers who come from all over the country trying to use this to further their own agenda. Industry in this country has enough regulatory and environmental hurdles to jump without those who think evil chemicals and corporations are to blame for everything. Those exact words may not have been invoked but many of those folks are of that mindset.

I'm guessing that if the spill had happened 2 years ago, and it was on some line which still exists like CSX or NS, there would be much more of an effort to find or create a connection so litigation could be brought into play. LV can be thankful it no longer exists!

[BR&P]

We're discussing a Leroy problem with a suggested possible link to a LV wreck.

A slightly different subject - ever notice in old wreck photos from 1910 or so how the public was allowed to swarm on, over, under and around the wreckage? Men, women and little kids were allowed unrestricted access to the wreckage. Imagine if that had been the case in this wreck. Some changes ARE for the better!

[charlie6017]

A slightly different subject - ever notice in old wreck photos from 1910 or so how the public was allowed to swarm on, over, under and around the wreckage? Men, women and little kids were allowed unrestricted access to the wreckage. Imagine if that had been the case in this wreck. Some changes ARE for the better!

I have noticed that in many shots. One in particular, in the "Images of Rail: Buffalo Railroads" book, a coal drag derailed on the Lackawanna off the Transit Rd overpass. There had to have been more than 100 people onlooking at the site and the crushed automobile below, and also standing in the gauge (page 39).

I am also glad times have changed in that manner.

Charlie

[roadster]

In one of my LV books, they discuss a derailment and tell that the crew ate, CoCoa puffs and peaches from the wrecked cars as they waited for management to show up.

[roadster]

I agree that this is a railroad fan site. If ya wanna talk politics, there's plenty of sites just for that purpose. As far as the "outsiders", they brought in by some of the parents. So they now have a legitimate reason to be here and investigate. Bottom line, money is the driving force here, since the parents were not satisfied with the medical Doctor's diagnostic result. Untill someone actually does some testing and gets a result, this is all so much noisy chatter.

[Railroaded]

The things that I can't understand are: Why didn't the LV have to take care of the environmental clean up back when the wreck happened? Why have those chemicals been allowed to remain there for so long? Why would the current corporate entity that was once PC not have limited themselves from the liability of this, or other unrelated responsibility after divesting of their former rail operations at the formation of Conrail? The news articles arn't in depth enough to get into the more interesting historic detail of this case. Also does anyone have a map or photo of the wreck site?

[Old & Weary]

Without taking the time to search through a lot of old newspaper records, I recall that it took a few years for the chemical to start showing up in local wells. At the time of the derailment, it was treated as just another wreck and cleanup.

[BR&P]

Penn Central had nothing to do with LV. The portions of the LV which were not conveyed to Conrail were handled by the LV estate (I believe there was a trustee). PC land which was not part of CR was disposed of by Owasco River RR. And I'll second what O&W said, also without doing a lot of research to confirm. The wreck happened, they cleaned it up they thought, and only later did the magnitude of the problem become apparent.

Older folks have to recall, and younger ones may not know, that going back 40 or 50 years there was not anywhere near the awareness or concern for the environment there is today. I can recall when I first started driving it was no big deal to change your oil in a field - pull the plug, drain the old oil onto the ground, then put the new in. At one time the prevailing attitude was "Well, it's just soaked into the ground, it's out in the country, it won't bother anyone." Ditto the derailment spill. Things have changed. (Although I will admit yesterday I found a can of dihydrogen oxide in my garage and dumped it down the drain.)

Generally speaking it's a good thing to be aware of environmental issues and that same derailment today would be handled much differently. Unfortunately some folks have gone way overboard into environmental issues and have passed the point of common sense.

[Railroaded]

Didn't the PC own the LV @ the time? Anyway, a lot of the articles mention "The railroad", or the "Lehigh Valley" as being part of the current plans for further clean up. What are the reporters talking about? What railroad or other entity would still have any responsibility there for the wreck or former rail property? Wikipedia (not always the most reliable source, but I digress) mentions a "Lehigh Valley Estate" left to oversee some property after Conrail. This LVE was then rolled into the non railroad related Penn Central during the 80's. Maybe the current manifestation of the PC, sold, merged, or whatever, & now renamed American Financial Group, is still somehow responsible?

Here's an article that mentions the railroad by name as if they still exist as a corporate entity:

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communi ... 721066.ece