CSX fined $2.2 million for 2015 West Virginia oil spill

The Class I railroad will pay $1.2 million to the U.S. government and $1 million to West Virginia for the environmental damage caused by the derailment.    The Justice Department on Tuesday said the Class I railroad CSX Transportation has agreed to pay up to $2.2 million in water pollution violation penalties related to an oil spill that was caused by a train derailment at Mount Carbon, W.Va., in 2015.
   The settlement requires CSX to pay $1.2 million to the U.S. government and $1 million to West Virginia.
  On Feb. 16, 2015, a CSX train containing 109 railcars of crude oil derailed at Mount Carbon. Twenty-seven of those cars, each holding about 29,000 gallons, derailed and half of those exploded and burned. A house and garage near the derailment site was destroyed and oil from the wreckage seeped into the Kanawha River and Armstrong Creek.
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Chris Gillis

Located in the Washington, D.C. area, Chris Gillis primarily reports on regulatory and legislative topics that impact cross-border trade. He joined American Shipper in 1994, shortly after graduating from Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md., with a degree in international business and economics.