The Department of Justice lodged a proposed consent decree to resolve a federal claim against Union Pacific Railroad for environmental costs, stemming from a 2004 train crash in Texas that released a deadly cloud of chlorine gas, reports the Journal of Commerce.
In a notice set for publication in the April 12 Federal Register, DOJ said the decree resolves the claim for $480,000.
The decree was lodged April 2 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, in San Antonio. The government had sought recovery of response costs incurred by the Environmental Protection Agency, after a train derailment near Macdona, Texas, on June 28, 2004, that ruptured a railroad tank car carrying chlorine gas.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a 2006 review of the pre-dawn accident that a westbound UP train hit the middle of a long, eastbound BNSF train that was moving onto a rail siding next to the mainline track. It said the UP train was operated by a fatigued locomotive engineer.
The chlorine gas vented from the ruptured tank car, and created a toxic cloud that killed the UP conductor and two residents of a nearby house, the NTSB said, while injuring several others including the UP engineer.
The governments complaint this month said response costs and prejudgment interest had reached nearly $582,000. Under the proposed decree, Union Pacific does not admit any liability, and will pay $480,000 into the EPAs Hazardous Substance Superfund. The decree will go through a 30-day public comment period before it can be finalized.
This is the second recent government settlement with major railroads to finalize past environmental cost claims from accidents involving chlorine. (Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $4 million resulting from a chlorine spill.)
They come as railroads are spending large amounts to develop extensive collision avoidance and remote locomotive control systems under a 2008 federal law that targeted lanes hauling highly toxic inhalant hazard chemicals or routes used by passenger trains.
(The preceding article was published by the Journal of Commerce.)
