Recently I read an account in the local newspaper detailing a fine levied against Pan Am Railways, $74,747, for mishandling chemically-treated and toxic railroad ties and failing to satisfy environmental management requirements in Franklin County, MA.
The fine was levied for improper disposal of railroad ties by Pan Am, as the ties are classified as solid waste by the MA DEP, and as such, must be disposed of properly and in accordance w/ solid waste regulations.
The law does allow for some leeway however. If Pan Am claims the ties are not being disposed of, but simply being stored because they will be re-using them, they can skirt the issue of disposal. But clearly, some ties are beyond use, they are rotted out and unusable, and many are becoming a part of the permanent landscape on area directly aside the tracks, w/ bushes and other flora growing in and thru them.
below: Hawley Street, adjacent to Ed’s Electric (that little green building)
I went up to the tracks here in Northampton recently to photograph all these apparent violations of MA State Law, starting at Highway Auto Salvage, and walking to the overpass on North St., and then made some calls. I took 75 photos along the way, and you can view them here. (blogger’s note: I have included about 15 of Paolo’s pictures in the gallery to the left. dgl) The photos document hundreds of abandoned railroad ties, asphalt, cement, and other debris that has been discarded by Pan Am along their tracks. All of that material is defined Solid Waste, and must be disposed of properly. Instead, it is left there to become a permanent part of the landscape, w/ greenery growing on it, thru it, and all around it. Some of the Solid Waste is almost unseen, due to the years it has sat there, being overgrown with greenery, and moving away from the immediate area on the sides of the tracks, on down the embankments. Some now seem to reside on the private property of abutting landowners. After documenting all this with photos, I made some calls.
First, I called Pan Am Railways, in the Legal Law & Safety Department, and spoke to David Nagy, Executive Director of Safety & Training. I asked him about Pan Am’s policy in regard to the disposal of railroad ties in Northampton, as they are laying around in great numbers, being overgrown by the landscape, and in some cases, have rolled down the embankment and onto the private property of abutters. I told him the recent fine levied against them by the MA DEP prompted my call. David told me that he doubts that Pan Am was fined for improper disposal of railway ties on their property, and suggested I might not want to believe everything I read. He suggested instead, that the fine was levied because the railroad ties had crossed property lines, and were now on someone else’s private property, which would be a violation of State Law, as it would constitute an improper disposal of solid waste. He continued that the State of MA can not fine Pan Am Railways for leaving piles of railroad ties on their own property, because it’s their private property, and they can do whatever they want with it, including "leaving the ties there permanently, which we do sometimes. It’s like if you had something on your own private property, the state couldn’t tell you that you had to remove it, right?"
Well, I explained to him that if I was improperly storing a solid waste on my land, that the state could indeed to order me to remove it and/or dispose of it properly, and well they should. I should note here that David asked me in what location was this a problem, as he volunteered that Pan Am will remove the ties if requested by a property owner. "If these are disturbing your property somewhere, let me know where and we will get somewhere there to remove them." So if you have property that abuts the railroad, and these ties have found their way to your property, and you don’t want them there, call David at 978.663.6900 and request that they be removed. I’m sure you don’t want creosote oozing out all over your property. I wonder how much of that chemical, and the toxic stew in it, seeps into the water table.
Creosote, a coal tar derivative
Next up, I called the Springfield office the MA DEP. They directed me to the MA laws on the books that Pan Am is in violation of.
From 310 CMR 19.000: Solid Waste Management Facility Regulations [PDF here], found at the MA DEP website,
"Solid Waste or Waste means useless, unwanted or discarded solid, liquid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, …or household activities that is abandoned by being disposed or incinerated or is stored, treated or transferred pending such disposal, incineration or other treatment, but does not include;" ?? "(i) compostable or recyclable materials when composted or recycled… For a complete definition reference 310 CMR 19.006."
This is admittedly, disputed by Pan Am. The railways were given their land by the federal gov’t in the late 19th century. Like Indian reservations, airports, and some other lands, these lands do not exist in the commonwealth of MA. This muddies the situation, and creates disagreement as to whether or not the railways are subject to various local ordinance. Because if they were, Pan Am Railways, per MA DEP Reg’s, would need to have approval from the local Board of Health here in Northampton to operate a solid waste management facility. Any area storing solid waste is a facility [PDF here], whether or not there is an actual building or structure. So the railroad ties being disposed of along the tracks of the Pan Am Railway in Northampton, MA constitute a solid waste facility, and the railroad is prohibited from operating such facilities w/out approval from the BoH here.
This led me to call the Director of the Board of Health here in Northampton, to inquire if the BoH has indeed given approval to Pan Am Railways to operate a solid waste site facility here in Northampton. Ernest J. Mathieu, the director of the BoH in Northampton, has informed me that no one from Pan Am has never contacted his office to inquire about a site facility approval.
I put in a formal complaint with the DEP in Springfield. Ditto w. Pan Am. And I’m sending the photos to the BoH in Northampton, as they requested, and was informed that the BoH would follow up.
When I was growing up, I learned very early that if I made a mess somewhere, I was expected to clean it up, and no one wanted to hear that I didn’t have the time, or the money to do so. Pan Am has a history of trying to skirt their corporate responsibility in the towns they run thru. They were recently ordered to pay the town of Deerfield $362,600 in back taxes owed over five years that they had not paid.
The town of Montague is in a similar bind w/ Pan Am, and the town administrator Frank Abbondanzio recently wrote a letter to the Governor, pleading for help. http://www.recorder.com/story.cfm?id_no=4371152.
It’s important that corporate citizens, created by the benevolent generosity of the public, are held to the same standards as everyone else.
