EPA finalizes waste-storage settlement with Arkansas Midland Railroad

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week it finalized a settlement with the Arkansas Midland Railroad Co. over alleged hazardous waste violations at a private rail track in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

According to the EPA, the company illegally stored more than 750,000 gallons of highly flammable hazardous waste in rail cars near homes, a school and waterways.

The settlement calls for the company to pay a civil penalty of $910,985. The waste was removed and disposed of in a permitted facility, EPA officials said in a press release.

The waste material, o-Chlorotoluene, was stored in up to 34 unsecured, unsupervised rail cars along Spring Street for at least two years. It is classified as a hazardous waste under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. No evidence of leaks or exposure was found, EPA officials said.