WOBURN, Mass. -- A jury in Massachusetts has convicted a New Hampshire railway company and three of its subsidiaries of failing to report a hazardous waste spill at a rail yard in Ayer, reports WCVB televsion.
Pan Am Railways Inc. of Nashua, N.H, was charged with violating the Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention Act.
Prosecutors said a locomotive spilled hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel at the rail yard in August 2006. Pan Am Railways and its subsidiaries were accused of failing to report the leak to state officials and of attempting to cover it up.
A Superior Court jury returned the verdict Monday after a weeklong trial.
Each failure to report a spill is punishable by a $100,000 fine.
An after-hours call placed to the company for comment was not immediately returned.
