War of words!

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Do all of you remember the old Union Pacific shops in the Omaha back in the early 80’s? Well…

When the UPRR was closing the shops at the time,there was alot of LEAD left in the wakes. Now many years later the City of Omaha was planning on a new Convention center to take it’s place. Well to this very day their is a heated battle going on between the city of Omaha, the Federal Government and the UPRR over the cleanup of the huge amount of LEAD thay was left behind. So the City wound up cleaning up the mess. Then the city went to the Fed’s and now the Fed’s are in return DEMAINDING the Union Pacific to pay up millions…

OH THE UPRR IS “PISSED”.

So the UPRR blames ASARCO for the LEAD left behind after the plant had closed. Here we go! Let the war begin.

Do any of you remember any of this? Just in case you all my have fogot.
I just cannot believe that this is still going on to this date. Unreal!

And oh by the way…
Here is the link.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=1473921
Allan.

2

UP management really is an accursed bunch of whinners aren’t they? It looks like they are going to have to crack down on railfans for photographing to make back the bucks.

3

Did you mean to type in LED or LEAD?

4

Yes Thank You. I did also add a Link too.
Allan.

5

They leased the land to the other company so technicly UP is liable for the clean up Talk about a way to lose your shirt. Good thing they painted those so called heritage units they are going to need the money to cover what this is going to cost them.

6

Maybe this is why the Union Pacific has to charge liscening fees for copies of their logos.

7

(playing the worlds saddest song on the worlds smallest fiddle)[swg]

8

I don’t understand them. What did they expect? GM, GE and every other industry that has to do with electrics has to take care of the PCBs, Hooker Chemical got in major trouble for the Love Canal disaster. All kinds of industries have had to clean up or pay at some point in time; what makes UP so special that they think they should be exempt?

9

I’m not an attorney but it appears that this whole matter has enough gray areas in it related to liability to keep it in court for years. One factor to be considered is the nature of the business operated by the lessee (ASARCO?) after UP closed its shops.

Before you get your violins out, joint and several liability over a Superfund site can leave a small firm which contributed a small percentage of the contamination stuck with the whole bill for the cleanup.

10

Seems more than fair to me, what exactly does ASARCO do with lead that caused the contamination?

11

Having seen a few of these similar scenarios play out, here’s my prognosis:

If UP owned the land when the contamination occurred, UP is toast. They don’t stand a chance in court.

If ASARCO was the polluter, they may inturn be sued by UP to recover damages caused by their negligent actions. ASARCO will probably also be sued by the Feds as a another party to the contamination.

Some judge will divy up the costs between UP and ASARCO. If ASARCO runs out of money, UP will HAVE TO pay the rest.

Similar actions occur regularaly with PCB’s and oil cleanups. This is well established case law. No surprises here. We have transformer oil disposed of all the time. We have to account for and test ALL of our oil to make sure there are no PCB’s, so if the disposal company screws up we don’t have to pay for their cleanup (again).

The Feds should present the undisputed facts and go for a summary judgement, with the only issue being the amount, and not whether or not UP and ASARCO have to pay.

Mark in Utah

12

Here’s the story, cut and pasted from the UTU web site.

EPA rejects settlement from Union Pacific

OMAHA – The EPA has rejected an $11 million offer by Union Pacific Railroad to settle its liability over the extensive lead contamination on the city’s east side, according to this report by Nancy Gaarder published by the Omaha World-Herald.
Instead, the Environmental Protection Agency is pushing the railroad to assume full liability for the cleanup, which could total more than $70 million.

The proposals are part of the months-long negotiations taking place between U.P. and the EPA. The negotiations are much like buying a car – one side starts out low and the other high, with the talks aimed at finding an acceptable middle figure.

On Monday, the tensions spilled into the public arena after Union Pacific concluded that the EPA had had enough and was preparing legal action.

On behalf of U.P., Nebraska’s entire congressional delegation sent a letter to the head of the EPA, Stephen Johnson, requesting that the agency “refrain from any unilateral action.”

The letter, which was signed by Sens. Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel and Reps. Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry and Tom Osborne, further criticized Johnson for not keeping them apprised of the possible legal action and for not going after other companies.

Also on Monday afternoon, U.P. issued a two-page statement saying that it would fight EPA administratively and in the courts.

Kathryn Blackwell, spokeswoman for the railroad, said the company issued the press release after being told by the Department of Justice that the government was moving forward with a unilateral order.

By day’s end, though, the EPA had extended negotiations until Aug. 31 – the fifth extension since spring.

“We feel that progress is being made so we are continuing discussions,” said Bob Feild, coordinator for the EPA cleanup. Furthermore, Feild said, the

13

I’m reminded of a story I read about the big mercury scare back a couple of decades. (Disclaimer - I’m not saying the mercury and lead aren’t dangerous.)

As some may recall, there was quite the to-do about mercury pollution from who-knows-what sources all over the place. Fish were a prime carrier - don’t eat them! Then somebody found a fossilized fish someplace in Michigan and had it tested for lead. It came out with a higher concentration than some of the live fi***hat had been tested. The big mercury flap ended shortly thereafter.

IIRC there is someplace in California where the sand is mostly asbestos. Can you sue Mother Nature?

That three year moratorium on actions against Asarco has a slight odor to it. Sounds like EPA is under the gun and since they can’t pursue Asarco just now, they are going after UP.

14

EPA seeing whose pocket they can fit into better and faster…?

Nice to see all our politicians can agree on something!

Meow…

15

Unfortunately, once it is on your property, you are responsible for the clean up. It is like when garbage blows onto your front lawn. It might not be yours but you should clean it up before it smells otherwise innocent neighbours may have the right to seek legal action to have you clean it up.

My advice to U.P then is this; Spend the money to clean it up and then sue Asarco for compensation.

16

Heh heh, good thing I photograph CSX.[:p]

Question, what is ASARCO?

17

A smelter or smeller - pick one.

18

Just think; at one point in time, the Romans used to use powdered lead as sugar. No wonder their empire fell.

19

LOL![(-D]

20

I think the EPA is doing what alot of these people that get hit by trains due to the fact that they ignore the gates, lights etc…trying to find some deep pockets to fill their own no matter who’s really at fault.