Stockbridge — During a June 27 Stockbridge Conservation Commission meeting, all members voted to issue an enforcement order directing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Housatonic Railroad to remove toxic piles of creosote-laden railroad ties that were discarded along the right of way, including in wetlands and streams. A copy will be submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection.
At the following meeting on July 11, the Commission discussed moving forward with gathering evidence that maps out where those ties are as well as providing a letter from the town’s fire chief stating that the ties are a fire hazard. The order is being held to include those documents before submitting to Mass DOT and the Housatonic Railroad.
“We’re still waiting for those railroad ties to be removed that we’ve been asking them to remove for years,” said member Sally Underwood-Miller at the earlier meeting.
Creosote, as a coal tar, has been determined by the Center for Disease Control to be toxic to humans.
Despite previous requests to the Housatonic Railroad to remove the ties, the railroad has failed to do so, said town consultant David Cameron of Fleetwood Environmental Solutions. “If the Commission is convinced that there’s actually been a violation, and I’m not doubting that that’s the case, and the commission wants to try to get some response to that, I think the commission should consider issuing an enforcement order,” he said. According to Cameron, such an order can be directed to multiple parties, such as Mass DOT or the Housatonic Railroad, if it is unclear as to which party was responsible for leaving the ties behind.
Cameron advised the group to document the violations on site, a task made difficult since only railroad employees would be able to show members exactly where the maintenance occurred along the rail line that resulted in the ties being left. Although member Chuck Kohrer said he has some photographs identifying the site of the violations, the influx of spring flora may have hidden some of the piles of ties. “I believe this would be a multi-year event,” he said. “I think every year we’re going to find more piles to be dealt with.”
However, since the photographs conclusively show that abandoned creosote ties are in resource areas or buffer zones and those ties can be located by GPS on a map, Cameron said he was comfortable with the Commission “issuing an enforcement order that’s got some teeth to it.”
The Commission also issued a determination statement, certifying the resource areas so the state can maintain the vegetation on the railway by routine herbicide spraying. This action prevents the greenery from growing on top of the railroad tracks and creating a safety hazard; however, Underwood-Miller said the Commission believes strongly that the use of these chemicals are injurious to the citizens of Stockbridge. State and federal regulations allow the use of chemicals to maintain a right of way in Massachusetts, she said.
“This is a real story because creosote in and of itself is toxic,” Underwood-Miller said. The use of creosote ties along the Housatonic River is especially concerning because the chemical mixes not only with the glyphosate that is in the herbicide but with the toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that are already permeating the waterway, she said.
According to Underwood-Miller, the combination has resulted in a higher incidence of cancer among dogs in the area. “We have a lot of reasons for not wanting more toxic chemicals to go into the river,” she said. “We frankly don’t know what the combination will do, but we’re pretty sure it’s not a good thing. We feel very strongly that there needs to be some reform on the state and federal level that these chemicals should not be permitted.”
