Illinois EPA seeks action on tank car incident in Wood River, Ill.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said it has asked the state’s Attorney General’s Office to pursue legal action against the Phillips 66 refinery in Roxana, Ill., over the venting of sulfuric acid from four tank cars in Wood River, Ill., that began last week. In referring the matter to the Attorney General’s Office, the state EPA cited violations of environmental and pollution control board regulations during the incident, and requested the refinery conduct an analysis of the cause of the incident. A Kansas City Southern employee was injured during the incident, which led to a shelter-in-place order in Wood River on Friday [see “Digest: Bill to create Colorado passenger rail district advances,” Trains News Wire, June 4, 2021]. The website RiverBender reports a spokeswoman said the refinery is “working to respond to the information requests from the state.” Authorities had warned another shelter-in-place order was possible over the weekend, but air quality remained above levels that would have required that action.
Kentucky Steam to host June 12 open house
Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. will hold an open house at its Irvine, Ky., campus on Saturday, June 12, giving visitors a chance to see progress in the rebuilding of former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2716 as well as the site of the planned multipurpose tourist attraction to be known as “The Yard.” That project will turn the former CSX yard into a site including a concert venue, restaurant, and brewery, as well as the shop building for the 2716 operation. “We want people to come in and get reacquainted with this project,” Kentucky Steam president Chris Campbell said in a press release. “Open house events like this are new to us again after the difficult times we’ve experienced over the last year and a half, so that newness brings some excitement with it, and it’s exciting to know that the public will once again have the opportunity to see, up close, the results of the hard work being performed by our volunteers.” Registration for the open house is available here; for more information on Kentucky Steam, visit the organization’s website.
Man faces assault charges after punching VIA employee over mask requirement
A 56-year-old man is facing an assault charge after allegedly punching a VIA Rail Canada employee at the Kingston, Ontario, station who requested the suspect wear a mask. CTV News reports the man was repeatedly dismissive of the employee’s request to wear a mask while buying a ticket. The man was then not allowed to board the train because of his lack of a mask; when approached again by the station employee about wearing the required mask, a Kingston police police report says the man “became belligerent … and took an aggressive posture wishing to engage in a physical altercation.” The VIA employee attempted to avoid an altercation but was punched in the neck; police arrested the suspect on the station platform as he waited to board the train.
My mother had an expression, “Your freedom ends where my nose begins” when it came to getting into a fight with another boy. This man should know that he has NO right to attack the VIA employee. Throw the book at him.