Perdido Site Off EPA Superfund List Over 50 Years After Train Wreck

January 15, 2018

The U.S. EPA has deleted the Perdido Groundwater Contamination site in Perdido, AL, from the Superfund National Priorities List.

The Perdido Ground Water Contamination Site is located in Perdido, Baldwin County, Alabama, and is the site of a train derailment, which occurred on May 17, 1965.  The Site originated as a borrow area which provided sand and fill material to the County for local use. In 1965, a train derailment by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (a predecessor of CSX Transportation, Inc., CSXT) occurred approximately 200 yards east of the intersection of Highways 47 and 61.  Chemicals from the derailed tank cars spilled into the drainage ditches along State Highway 61 and caught fire.

Later, as a result of the accident, an unknown quantity of benzene that had not been destroyed by the fire eventually penetrated the soil and entered the ground water aquifer. In 1982, benzene was identified in several residential domestic water supply wells within the community of Perdido.

An alternate supply of drinking water was provided by CSXT by constructing a waterline six miles from the nearby town of Atmore. Approximately 150 Perdido homes within a one-mile radius of the derailment were connected to the alternate water supply.

The train derailment site is less than two miles from North Escambia and the Florida state line.

Comments

2 Responses to “Perdido Site Off EPA Superfund List Over 50 Years After Train Wreck”

  1. Robin Jay on June 23rd, 2019 8:57 am

    Due to health issues of age groups having lived in this area , one has to question the possibility of the side effects and health issues that benzene ingested may create , as the drinking water was contaminated . Several people in my age group have been diagnosed with cancer , whom also grew up in this area . Government research , proves there is a direct link between Benzene and Cancer . This is an issue the Government and the Railroad company should have advised the general public about at the time of the derailment of the L &N railroad derailment , but failed to do so . It would certainly have been sound advice , to have warned the general population in this area against the continued use of the natural water supply , instead of waiting nearly twenty years and getting many complaints about the foul smell from the well water . One has to wonder , did they think of the people of the community or just blatantly omit the fact this chemical could be harmful to those whom live/lived in this area . Who served as a voice for this communities health concerns after the fact of the derailment ?

  2. Bob C. on January 15th, 2018 1:55 pm

    Sometimes, depending on what is spilled, it may be best to just let the fires burn out spilled materials. Yes there’d have been some air contamination but brief and lessen the amount going into groundwater.

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