The mile-long train carrying North Dakota crude oil to Yorktown that derailed, burst into flames and shut down two water treatment plants in West Virginia has York County officials trying to prevent a local worst-case scenario — a train derailment due to flooding at two outdated culverts under the CSX railroad track near Route 17.
A train derailment near Route 17 and Fort Eustis Boulevard could send crude oil directly into the Poquoson River. The Poquoson River headwaters flow into Newport News’ Hardwood’s Mill Reservoir, which serves residents across the Peninsula.
“As the train is approaching Yorktown, it is going very slow,” said Dave Morris, a natural resources manager for regional water provider Newport News Waterworks. “That relieves some of our concern, but any time you are hauling petroleum across our watershed it is something we worry about.”
Morris estimated that a train bringing oil into Yorktown would be traveling at 10 to 15 mph. According to media reports, a CSX train that derailed in Lynchburg in April 2014, spilling oil into the James River and bursting into flames, was traveling at about 24 mph.
York County sent a letter to CSX recently to repeat its request that CSX remove a dislodged section of pipe that blocks some of the Poquoson River, said Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Shepperd. A CSX representative told the county in January that it would be fixed by March 1.
“But it still sits there,” Shepperd said.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, CSX spokesman Gary Sease told the Daily Press the railroad had a crew on site that would place rock rip-rap to create a head wall, replace the outer 48-inch concrete pipe sections and remove the broken pipe section over the next several days.
At 3 p.m. Tuesday and on Wednesday morning there was no sign of a crew.
Interim County Administrator Mark Carter said CSX’s email to the Daily Press was the first time he and county staff had seen details about the railroad’s maintenance plans.
Morris also sent a letter to CSX on Feb. 10, before the West Virginia derailment, asking the company to address the “deterioration” at the crossing that leads to the reservoir.
Sease said, “The track structure was not affected by the erosion that had occurred, and the rail infrastructure remains in compliance with federal and company standards.”
Even if CSX completes the regular maintenance at the crossing, the county is still on the hook for $1.27 million to replace the two 48-inch concrete pipes or culverts running under the track.
“You can’t get CSX to do anything they don’t want to do,” Shepperd said.
Sease declined to respond to Shepperd’s comment.
The county plans to replace those culverts with larger ones that can handle more stormwater, Shepperd said. The project is in the county’s capital improvements program for fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018. The supervisors still have to appropriate the funds in each year’s budget.
The county has been asking CSX to help replace the culverts since at least 2009, when former environmental services director John Hudgins sent a letter to the company stating that the 48-inch culverts were “severely undersized and not operating correctly.”
Shepperd and Supervisor Walt Zaremba said they are determined to have the county replace the culverts.
“We are not going to wait for CSX,” Zaremba said. “We have been asking since forever. We want to make sure — dang sure — that when that train comes into Plains (Plains All American Pipeline) out of Yorktown that there is no potential for disaster.”
But Zaremba, Shepperd and Supervisor Donald Wiggins said they thought CSX should contribute to the culvert replacement project. So far the company has said it would provide a permit for the county to work on its right-of-way without paying a fee, said Helmut Walter, former chairman of the York County Stormwater Advisory Committee. The committee no longer exists.
Walter said Hudgins, the former environmental services director, had told the committee that CSX’s position was that the county was responsible for replacing the culverts because the county had allowed development in the area that had increased runoff.
“They said, ‘We will give you a permit to do that, but that is not our responsibility to go in there and do that,'” Wiggins said. “But we don’t know anything about fixing a railroad.”
“I feel they have a responsibility to help pay for improvements,” Shepperd said. But if the county wants to prevent neighborhood flooding and flooding that could cause the culverts to collapse and damage the railway, the county will have to fix the culverts on its own, he said.
Walter said the county should have replaced the culverts sooner.
Shepperd said the county hasn’t replaced the culverts yet because other projects were a higher priority — like the Moores Creek stormwater project, which aimed to improve drainage for about 700 houses.
If a derailment does happen, Waterworks is prepared to deal with it, Morris said. Petroleum floats on water so “we have booms that we can put out to catch it before it got into the reservoir.”
Waterworks also has multiple reservoirs and two water treatment plants. It can shut down one water treatment plant and rely on the other if there is a disruption, he said.
Somers can be reached by phone at 757-298-5176.
