HARRISBURG – Environmental crimes charges have been filed against Norfolk Southern Corporation and a former engineer who was at the helm of a Norfolk Southern train that derailed in June 2006. The derailment spilled 42,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide waste into the soil, wetlands and waters of two counties in Northwestern Pennsylvania causing millions of dollars in damage and killing thousands of fish.
Attorney General Tom Corbett identified the defendants as Michael J. Seifert, 46, West Seneca, N.Y., and Norfolk Southern Corp., Norfolk, Va. Seifert was an engineer with Norfolk Southern Corp. for eight years prior to the accident.
Corbett said the attorney general’s investigation was launched based on a referral from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection following a train derailment at Keating Summit, McKean County. Evidence and testimony about the derailment was presented to a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the charges being filed.
According to the grand jury, on June 30, 2006, Seifert was operating a Norfolk Southern train down Keating Summit at a top speed of 76 miles per hour when 31 cars derailed. The speed limit on that stretch of tracks is 15 miles per hour.
The grand jury found that Seifert appeared incoherent at times and fell asleep prior to the derailment. Several hours after the accident, morphine and benzodiazepines were detected in Seifert’s bloodstream.
Corbett said that Seifert had been disciplined by Norfolk Southern in the past for similar conduct.
In March, Seifert was charged with two counts of risking a catastrophe and one count of reckless endangerment by the McKean County District Attorney’s Office. Seifert has posted bail and is awaiting trial on those charges.
The grand jury determined that four of the 31 derailed cars contained sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye. The sodium hydroxide had a pH level higher than 12.5, which under state and federal regulations made it a hazardous substance.
Corbett said that 42,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide was dumped out of the train cars into Big Fill Run and then carried downstream to Sinnemahoning Portage Creek. Over eight miles of streams in McKean and Cameron counties were devastated by the spill.
“Prior to the derailment, the upper reaches of Sinnemahoning Portage Creek had the state’s highest quality water rating and four miles of Class A wild trout that attracted anglers throughout the country,” Corbett said. “Because of the defendants’ criminal actions, the stream’s ecosystem was completely destroyed.”
Seifert is charged with two felony counts of unlawful dumping of hazardous waste and one misdemeanor count unlawful conduct under the Solid Waste Management Act. He is also charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Law.
Norfolk Southern Corp. is charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful conduct under the Solid Waste Management Act.
Corbett thanked the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the McKean County District Attorney’s Office and the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance with this case.
The case will be prosecuted in McKean County by Deputy Attorney General Andrew Thiros of the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section.