James City County Supervisor John McGlennon (Roberts) has asked county staff to research the train transportation of oil and petroleum through the county in the wake of last week’s Lynchburg derailment.
His request, made via email Monday, comes less than a week after a train with two locomotives and 105 rail cars en route from Chicago to Yorktown derailed in Lynchburg, causing a large fire and the release of crude oil into the James River, according to news releases from CSX. Three rail cars fell into the river, causing the estimated release of 20,000 to 25,000 gallons of crude oil, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
McGlennon said in his email he wants to know more about the frequency and length of trains, as well as the types of rail cars, used to transport fuel. He also requested to learn about the planning in place to mitigate any incidents that could occur in James City County, and asked for information on what the county’s emergency operations director has been told about potential hazards associated with shipping crude oil.
“While I understand that railroads are exempt from ‘right to know’ legislation about the movement of their trains and the commodities they carry, it is important that we understand the challenges faced by the county and other jurisdictions,” McGlennon wrote.
The James City County Board of Supervisors discussed the request at a Monday work session. Tal Luton, the chief of the James City County Fire Department, told them hazardous materials pass through the county every day. He said the department is prepared for a single-car derailment. The Lynchburg derailment involved multiple rail cars, however Luton said the oil that was released was from a single rail car.
“The local emergency managers and fire departments are well aware of the situation and are taking planning actions and additional training of fire folks on this one particular product,” Luton said.
The three Historic Triangle municipalities share mutual aid agreements, meaning if a train derailed in one, the others would be available to assist with first responders. He noted derailments, like car crashes, can range from something similar to a fender-bender all the way to a catastrophic accident.
Luton said the fire department has available reference materials that dictate safe evacuation distances from the site of a chemical spill.
“Most citizens don’t realize what has to go up and down your roads and your rails, but working as close as I have to the fire department, I know we are very well prepared for the situation,” said Supervisor Michael Hipple (Powhatan), also a member of the James City-Bruton Volunteer Fire Department.
McGlennon also asked for an evaluation of the condition of the tracks that run through the county. He identified a section of track between Route 143 and U.S. 60 in Magruder Heights as having experienced potential erosion, noting it appears the train tracks there could benefit from close inspection. Luton said Monday he cannot speak to the structural capability of the existing railway.
“Hopefully we can get CSX to be responsive,” McGlennon said. “They haven’t been so far.”
CSX has a line that runs through James City County, entering the county near the Chickahominy River and continuing on a path parallel to U.S. 60 through the county and into the City of Williamsburg before it re-enters James City County in Grove. From there, the line continues into Newport News, where it branches off and enters York County, eventually crossing George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17) before ending up at the Yorktown Terminal.
The Associated Press reported Thursday the train was en route to the Yorktown Terminal, a site formerly known as the Yorktown Refinery, which receives crude oil shipments by train and then packages them to be shipped to refineries via boat. That site is capable of receiving up to 130,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to an August 2012 news release from Plains All American Pipeline, the company that operates the Yorktown Terminal.
Plains All American Pipeline did not return calls requesting comment.
The James River Association, a nonprofit that seeks to protect the river, noted some of the oil that did not burn up in the crash and subsequent fire has floated down stream. As of Friday, that oil was visible as far east as the Dutch Gap in Chesterfield County, located adjacent to Interstate 295’s Varina-Enon Bridge. That information was provided to JRA by CSX, which did not return WYDaily’s calls requesting comment.
Following the release of the crude oil into the river, the Virginia Department of Health’s Division of Environmental Epidemiology issued a recommendation that nobody use the river from the derailment site to Richmond for recreational activities including swimming, kayaking and rafting. That advisory is a precautionary measure, according to a news release.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is monitoring the river for any evidence of the spill affecting the environment. Water samples have been collected to be analyzed for possible contamination downriver, according to the release.
On Monday, the offices of U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx outlining concerns about the safety of rail shipments of crude oil. In their letter, they noted one or more of the rail cars ruptured, causing the contents to catch fire and the train to fall off the tracks into the James River. They also said preliminary reports indicate heavy storm conditions could have compromised a segment of the trackbed, potentially causing the derailment.