Railroad company preparing to haul soil

Norfolk Southern Railroad con tinues to make arrangements to clean up the mess created by the massive lye spill near the Cameron/ McKean County border on June 30.

Over 40,000 gallons of the chemical not only destroyed miles of pristine streams, it poisoned several acres of soil near a wetlands.

Tons of contaminated soil from the crash site near Gardeau will evidently be trucked to Elk County for disposal. Last week, the Fox Township Supervisors laid the groundwork by approving temporary exceptions for the Veolia Greentree Landfill.

Landfill operators were authorized to make three changes to facilitate the shipments of the soil, which contains heavy concentrations of sodium hydroxide. It will be spread atop the landfill's daily trash deposits as cover. The landfill will accept materials for four more hours each day, until 8:00 p.m. Maximum daily volume will increase from 6,000 tons to 6,900 tons per day; average daily volume will rise from 5,500 tons to 5,800 tons.

The three exceptions will remain in effect for 60 days.