The Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railway will pay an $80,770 civil penalty for violations of Minnesota storage tank and hazardous waste laws.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced the stipulation agreement with the Duluth-based railway on Tuesday.
The PCA alleged that the company violated above-ground storage tank rules at rail-side facilities in Duluth, Two Harbors and Proctor and at a marine fuel storage facility in Two Harbors.
The violations were discovered by PCA tank and hazardous waste inspection staff between April and June 2005 and included failure to register above-ground tanks and failure to properly operate and maintain them.
State law requires that above-ground storage tanks be protected against corrosion and that they have spill containment areas, leak detection systems and other safeguards.
ADVERTISEMENT
The company also failed to properly label and store lead-acid batteries and used oil waste containers, and it failed to prevent used oil releases that had the potential to contaminate underground waters at its Two Harbors facility. The violations also include a fuel spill into Lake Superior at the Two Harbors locomotive refueling station, said Anne Perry Moore, PCA spokeswoman in Duluth.
Since the inspections, the company has updated tank registrations, removed and replaced non-compliant tanks and improved truck-to-rail fueling procedures, PCA officials reported Tuesday. Under the agreement, the DM&IR is required to complete ongoing projects to clean up soil contamination at spots where used oil leaked into the ground.
Calls to a railroad company spokesman were not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.
The DM&IR in recent years has paid about $71,000 in fines and has been cited by the PCA seven times since 2000 for violations of air quality regulations at several of its facilities.
The DM&IR, a Delaware-registered corporation now owned by the Canadian National Railway, delivers taconite pellets from Iron Range plants to Lake Superior shipping facilities.
