SANDWICH ACADEMY GRANT TOWNSHIP, Maine – The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is asking Canadian Pacific Railway Kansas City to clean up after a freight train derailment and fire that occurred last week.
Commissioner Melanie Loyzim sent a letter to the railroad on Thursday, saying that its efforts had fallen short of the agency’s expectations in relation to the timetable set to “effectively mitigate environmental and public health impacts”.
In particular, state authorities complain that two wagons carrying hazardous materials were not quickly removed from the site and that the fuel in the locomotives was not removed, resulting in a spill of diesel fuel. An estimated 1895 liters of fuel leaked.
Three locomotives and six wagons carrying lumber and electric wire ran off the tracks in Somerset County Saturday, resulting in the hospitalization of three people.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City, formed from the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern that completed the day before the derailment, is leading the cleanup, salvage and repair efforts.
Derailments and railroad safety have been a growing concern in the United States since the Norfolk Southern derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, which released chemicals, prompted forced evacuations and ongoing health concerns.
The Maine derailment happened near Rockwood, a town of about 300 people on Moosehead Lake, about 140 kilometers northwest of Bangor.
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