Delegation to Feds: Demand Pan Am documents

Written by jrood

Three members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation are renewing and amplifying the call for greater construction oversight of Pan Am Railways' rail-to-truck auto distribution yard off Willow Road in Ayer, Mass., local newspapers report.  

In a letter addressed to
the chairman of the Surface Transportation Board and dated October 1, Lowell
Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and U.S. Senators John Kerry and Paul Kirk urged
increased supervision to ensure the railway is sticking to environmental
safeguards required for the project. The 26-acre rail yard is the first project
for the railway for its 125-acre parcel off Willow Road. The entire area sits
atop the overlapping aquifer protection districts for Ayer and Littleton.

 

The letter references the
STB’s request at the July 29 town hall meeting hosted by Tsongas that
environmental concerns are brought to the its attention. The delegation states
that the July meeting was itself originally prompted by "escalating
concerns about the environmental impacts on drinking water from the
construction of this facility.

Of greatest concern in
recent weeks has been the company’s paving of much of their 26-acre site
without required storm water treatment devices in place. The race is on for Pan
Am to both complete the project this year in order to start accepting shipment
of Ford Motor Company vehicles for New England distribution.

Also, the company is
under the microscope simultaneously at Middlesex Superior Court, where a breach
of their construction mandates may trigger a violation of the terms of their
criminal probation. Pan Am Railway is on probation for three years after being
found guilty of the criminal cover-up of a more than 900-gallon diesel fuel spill
in 2006 at another Ayer location.

Pan Am and Norfolk
Southern (collectively known as Pan Am Southern, or PAS) have entered into a
joint venture to corner the market for rail haulage between New York and Ayer.
PAS lawyers yielded September 25 in court after being brought to task for
failing to show for a September 17 meeting requested by town, DEP and EPA
officials to discuss the infractions.

The company has since met
with the local, state and federal officials September 29 in a "positive
discussion" regarding the governmental concerns. A probation hearing moved
up to October 7 has since been moved back to its original date of October 15.
Yet, the delegation is asking the STB to get involved.

The letter reads, "After
spending the last year working with PAS and stakeholders to ensure this project
has no adverse environmental impacts, it is clear that continued oversight of
this project would benefit all involved." The delegation wrote, "In
order to fulfill this goal, we encourage the STB to require documentation from
PAS of compliance to all the concerns laid out by the EPA and DEP."

The overarching
environmental concern is that the rail yard was constructed atop the
overlapping aquifer protection districts for both Ayer and Littleton. Yet
construction forged ahead without several required environmental safeguards in
place.

Those items include a
stormwater treatment device to filter sediment and other contaminants flowing
across the enormous paved lot. Another concern is the lack of a liner under the
locomotive holding area, though the company has apparently recently pledged to
ultimately double the length of the planned liner to act as a tray under the
length of two instead of just one locomotive. There had also been concerns in
recent weeks about the source of the pulverized concrete being trucked into the
site to act as a footing before hot top was rolled out.

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