Metro News Release
For immediate release: November 25, 2009
Metro agrees to pay environmental fine
Incident happened six years ago
Metro has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine to settle a six-year-old violation of the Clean Water Act caused by the accidental discharge of acidic water from a rail car hand-wash operation to the sanitary sewer system at its Branch Avenue Rail Yard rail car washing facility. The incident took place over several days in October 2003 and was halted when Metro officials were notified of the discharge. After the incident, Metro reconfigured the operations of its rail car washing operation to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act.
Metro operates automatic rail car washing systems at five of its nine rail yards. They are West Falls Church, Alexandria, Greenbelt, Shady Grove and Glenmont rail yards. Rail car washing removes heavy dirt and rust from the aluminum exteriors of Metro’s fleet of 1,100 rail cars. The hand-washing facility at the Branch Avenue Rail Yard is the only hand-washing facility that Metro operates.
The investigation began at the New Carrollton Rail Yard, when a sewer pipe serving the facility collapsed. The sewer pipe served the area of the rail yard where hand-wash services were being performed. When Metro realized there was a problem at the New Carrollton facility, the hand washing operations were shut down immediately and moved to the railcar wash facility at Branch Avenue. Car washing operations were never resumed at New Carrollton.
Metro’s Branch Avenue Rail Yard was opened in March 2003 as a multi-purpose facility in which one of the buildings includes equipment to wash rail cars. It was designed so that all runoff from the car wash was to be collected for treatment. However the facility was designed with an over-flow valve, which allowed for untreated discharges to the sewer if excessive water was put into the system. The Branch Avenue facility operated without incident until October 2003, when the collection tanks filled with waste water, reached the overflow valve, and discharged untreated waste water into the sanitary sewer system from October 2 to 7.
Metro is committed to protecting the environment, and, as part of its environmental program, Metro recycles used oil, metals and batteries as part of its initiative to reduce environmental impact of Metro facilities. The agency has also established a policy that all new and substantially rehabilitated Metro facilities will be
designed and built with the goal of receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. LEED certified buildings cost less to operate and maintain, are energy and water efficient and are healthier and safer for occupants.
Metro today (November 25) agreed to pay the $200,000 fine for a misdemeanor violation of wastewater pretreatment rules in the United States District Court of Maryland. Metro will be subject to an 18-month probationary period as well. The Court also required quarterly monitoring of the Branch Avenue facility by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
Media contact for this news release: Lisa Farbstein or Steven Taubenkibel at 202-962-1051.
For all other inquiries, please call customer service at 202-637-7000.
News release issued at 12:54 pm, November 25, 2009.