Norfolk Southern Railroad Corp. is still investigating the train
derailment of 31 cars Friday morning in Gardeau in Norwich Township
as well as cleaning up damaged equipment at the site.
Rudy Husband, director of public relations for Norfolk Southern
Corp., said Monday investigators have not determined the cause of
the derailment.
Husband said it will take a couple of weeks to get everything
cleaned up. He said earlier that the tracks at the site must be
inspected before using them again, but he did not indicate whether
the tracks were inspected as of Monday.
“Our priority was to get the track back in service, which we did
this morning,” Husband said Monday. “Now we can concentrate on
getting the damaged equipment out of there.”
Husband said the 1,600 gallons of liquid sodium hydroxide
spilled onto the ground and into Portage Run, a branch of
Sinnemahoning Creek, in the derailment was no longer a problem in
cleaning up the damaged equipment at the site.
Sodium hydroxide, which is also known as caustic soda or lye,
can cause severe burns when contacting tissue or corrosive injury
if ingested.
Though not a problem with the clean-up of the train, the sodium
hydroxide seemed to have caused a big problem for Portage Run,
which was previously listed as a Class A Wild Brown Trout Stream,
meaning the water quality was so good on its own that the Fish and
Boat Commission did not stock it, according to Waterways
Conservation Officers Pete Mader of McKean County and Bill Crisp of
Cameron County.
Francis Mulcahy, associate professor of chemistry at the
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, explained Friday that 16,000
gallons of sodium hydroxide would raise the pH, or acidity, of the
stream to 14, making it toxic for fish and wildlife.
Fish were killed from the spill site in McKean County downstream
35 miles to below Sinnemahoning and possibly even farther
downstream into Clinton County, according to Jim Zoschg, a
watershed specialist for the Cameron County Conservation District.
The sodium hydroxide has also created a foamy look and tea-colored
brown tint to the water.
Mader said his agency planned to continue its own
investigation.
Personnel from the Center for Toxicology and Environmental
Health of Little Rock, Ark., measured the pH levels of the stream
water while in an overflow pond constructed, about four-to-five
feet deep and equipped with six pipes, as well as coming out of the
pond. The results will be shared with the state Department of
Environmental Protection and another state agency.
McKean County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Bruce
Manning explained that since the sodium hydroxide is water soluble
and heavier than water, some of the chemical in the creek will
dissolve, while some will settle to the bottom of the pond. He said
the remainder will eventually dissolve.
According to Husband, the train was traveling from Binghamton,
N.Y., to Harrisburg when it derailed.
On Friday, a tank car filled with 90 tons of chlorine was on its
side, causing the temporary evacuation of about 50 residents who
live downstream from the accident site. However, the chlorine
tanker did not breach, and those evacuated were allowed later
Friday to return to their homes.
