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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 13, 1999
99-105
CONTACT: Jani Gilbert, Public Information Manager, 509-456-4464; pager, 509-622-1289
SPOKANE-Idling diesel locomotives near Cheney has led to a $9,000 penalty against the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad, assessed this week by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
This penalty follows on the heels of a $4,000 penalty issued in February 1999 for the same violations.
Citizens complained of Palouse River locomotives idling for several days each month on a rail siding in Cheney. According to complaints and follow-up investigations, idling diesel engines have frequently been parked during the weekends, causing smoke, noise and odors that affected a local business and several residences.
Complaints came to the Ecology Department in February 1999 regarding 18 days of violations in late December 1998 and in January and February of 1999. State air-quality regulations prohibit anyone from emitting extreme odors.
After the first wave of complaints in March 1998, Ecology offered the railroad an opportunity to comply with air quality regulations and offered technical assistance. Ecology gave the railroad until April 15, 1998, to stop the source of the odors.
However, additional complaints were filed in December of that year about the same kind of air quality violations for 16 days that month. Palouse River Railroad was fined $4,000 for those violations, and the penalty has been appealed to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad has the option to appeal the new $9,000 penalty to the Pollution Control Hearings Board or file an "application for relief" with Ecology.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
