DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY — “The CSX is an incredibly dangerous railroad,” said Wes Gillingham, co-founder and associate director of Catskill Moutainkeeper.

On the issue of railroad safety in the Delaware River corridor, Gillingham noted that while the local railroad lines operated by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW)/Central New York (CNY) Railroad with locomotives owned by CSX [and others] “don’t have the traffic that some of the other lines have,” the system in our area along the Upper Delaware River is “long and windy, an old track line… given the situation, there’s nothing to prevent them from carrying [hazardous] stuff through here.”

The CSX locomotives are easily identified by their distinctive yellow and black color scheme with the large CSX logo printed on the front and sides of the engines.

To put things in perspective, Melanie Boyer, spokesperson from the NYSW/CNY, said that within the Delaware River Valley corridor, the corporations “lease the locomotives from both NS [Norfolk Southern] and CSX for our use [as operators].” 

She added that “it is possible to have a train with NYSW-, NS- and CSX-painted locomotives.”

She noted that Norfolk Southern is the property owner of CNY, which is officially the lessee, while “NYSW operates all trains and maintains the tracks” on the 123 miles of track within the corridor.

Gillingham referred to the 2018 derailment near Deposit, NY, an incident that spilled an estimated 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the West Branch of the Delaware River. It occurred, he said, “during a rainstorm, an extreme weather event… at a steam crossing that had washed out. 

“Basically the train tracks were [up] in the air, and couldn’t hold the train when it went to cross,” he said.

Gillingham said that while construction debris was “dumped into the river,” the diesel fuel was quickly washed downstream due to the storm, “instead of dispersing into everybody’s yard… it didn’t meander into the small eddies, or it would have been a totally different situation.”

Gillingham said the 2018 derailment “highlights the need to really take a close look, as the country and a river valley, what the regulations are, what’s allowable on the tracks and what is not being allowed on the tracks.”

On the possibility of dioxin (a chemical that was a component of the herbicide Agent Orange, used in the Vietnam War), being released into the environment from the controlled burn-off of vinyl chloride after the February 3 derailment in Ohio, Gillingham said, “it’s in the water, soil and the air… a serious health issue and information should be publicly accessible somehow.”

While recognizing homeland security concerns that call for not widely revealing what hazardous materials are transported by rail and other means, he stressed the right to know for communities, elected representatives and agency officials. “To have that information on hand… so communities have a choice of what’s coming through their backyards,” and so people know how to respond when something happens.

He noted the balancing act between security and “the people’s right to know.”

In essence, “It’s not when but what; it’s a tough one,” he said.

Local and federal resources

In 1997 (and effective March 16, 1999) Conrail—the former train operator in the valley—collaborated with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) to publish the Emergency Response Guide (ERG) for the Upper Delaware River Valley from Port Jervis to Deposit, NY, with support by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Upper Delaware Council (UDC).

The guide is site specific for the 73.4 miles of the NPS’s Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and is reportedly in the process of being updated.

In 2020, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration published a 393-page emergency response guidebook “intended for use by first responders during the initial phase of a transportation incident involving hazardous materials/dangerous goods.”

For information and/or to download the USDOT ERG, click here.

Of particular importance to first responders arriving at the scene of a train derailment is a detailed directory in the USDOT ERG used to identify tank cars (pressurized, non-pressurized and low-pressurized) and a comprehensive guide on how to read the mandated placards attached to tank cars so risk factors can safely be evaluated, and so personnel will know the best way to handle toxic substances.

“The Upper Delaware is recognized as the longest free-flowing river in the East Coast, it’s an incredibly pristine river, a really important semi-intact ecosystem… and people need to be protected,” Gillingham said.

Asked about his personal motivation for getting involved in protecting the Upper Delaware River Valley and beyond, Gillingham, who has worked for years traveling across the country teaching environmental science, replied, “I live here because it’s really a special area... we need to have a much more reciprocal relationship with the land and our planet.”

For more information about Catskill Mountainkeeper, which has a stated mission to “protect our region’s forests and wild lands; safeguard air and water; nurture healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities; empower environmental justice communities; and accelerate the transition to a 100% clean and just energy future,” call 845/693-5110, write to PO Box 268, Hurleyville, NY 12747, email info@catskillmountainkeeper.org, or connect through Twitter and Facebook.