Railway operator CSX Transportation has agreed to settle for $2.2 million in penalties with the government over the 2015 derailment of an oil tanker that caused a fiery mess in a small West Virginia town.
The rail company will pay $1.2 million in penalties to the Environmental Protection Agency and another $1 million to the state of West Virginia. The spill happened in Mount Carbon, W. Va. and involved thousands of gallons of oil.
The February 2015 derailment of 109 railcars carrying nearly 29,000 in Bakken crude oil led to explosions, property destruction and hundreds of resident evacuations.
An investigation by the Federal Railroad Administration determined a broken rail was the cause of the crash and that CSX and contractor Sperry Rail Service had missed the rail during two inspections in months before the accident.
“The 2015 CSX train derailment in Mount Carbon, West Virginia caused significant damage and disruption to that community,” Susan Bodine, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement Tuesday. “Through this settlement EPA, DOJ, and the State of West Virginia are holding CSX Transportation accountable for these consequences.”
The settlement comes after the EPA found that some of the oil discharged from the crash flowed into the neighboring Kanawha River and Armstrong Creek, threatening fish and bird habitat and drinking water supplies. The event led at least two water treatment plants to shut down while portions of the river also caught fire.