GAINESVILLE, Ga. — The Environmental Protection Division of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources has ordered Norfolk Southern to remove soybeans that ended up a waterway because of a derailment, or face penalties as high as $50,000 a day.
The Times of Gainesville, Ga., reports the agency informed the railroad in an Aug. 17 letter that soybeans in Flat Creek have come from a July 29 derailment when the railroad was servicing a Cargill plant. Three cars derailed; the letter from the EPD said that three hopper cars remained in the headwaters of Flat Creek as of Aug. 16, with soybeans visible in and under the cars, and in various stages of decomposition adjacent to the cars along the banks of the creek.
The EPD says the soybeans have lowered the oxygen level of the creek’s water, with an official reporting a number of dead fish along the creek.
Marion Environmental has been contracted by NS to remove the soybeans. The EPD’s “notice of violation” directs the railroad to continue removing the soybeans and provide aeration for the creek “until all recoverable soybeans are removed and the dissolved oxygen is above 5 [milligrams per liter] for a period of seven consecutive days.”
It is good stewardship to clean up your messes. Still a simple letter asking about clean up would be appropriate rather than a heavy handed threat. Every EPA needs to improve their reputation. This incident does not.
This amounts to a hill of beans!
Aren’t soy beans food? If some critters don’t come by and eat them, then they should naturally decompose. A years from now, no one will know, even the fish.
I call BS on the soybeans lowering the oxygen level in the water…
Are you a bio chemist?