The railroad company whose trestle collapsed earlier this year, derailing a train into the Marys River in Corvallis, has appealed a fine for water pollution stemming from the incident, denying state officials’ versions of events.
Included in the Department of Environmental Quality penalty notice that fined Portland & Western Railroad $81,600 fine was an order that the company inspect all its water crossing trestles for safety concerns and formulate a process for evaluating and prioritizing repairs, modifications or replacement.
‘Reckless disregard’
In January, the train bridge spanning Avery Park and Pioneer Park gave way under a 19-car freight train carrying pelletized fertilizer, dropping one railcar into the Marys River and leaving another partially in the water.
The derailment spilled 199 tons of urea into the river over nine days, according to the DEQ. Urea, which can be synthesized or harvested from animal urine and is used in fertilizer, both sinks and dissolves in water…