In September of 2009, a contractor working on CSX property on Charles City Road in Henrico County, VA observed a trespasser dumping unknown materials onto CSX property. Law enforcement was contacted. The Henrico County Fire Marshal's Office is the lead agency for the investigation. Criminal charges are pending.
CSXT immediately tasked their contractors, HEPACO and Geosyntec to excavate and containerize both the liquid and solid (impacted soil) hazardous waste material.
Once excavated the liquid and solid waste was containerized in 44, 55 gallon steel drums, which were staged and secured on a fenced concrete pad on the CSXT property. On the following day the Henrico county officials collected samples from the drums and deemed the drums evidence for the criminal investigation.
In October, 2009, the Virginia State Lab (DCLS) reported that the samples were flamable and contained the hazardous substance toluene and xylene(s). Since the analytical results of the samples met the criteria of RCRA hazardous waste, Henrico County decided that it was appropriate to treat the incident as an environmental crime.
In April, 2010, a hazardous waste inspector from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) conducted a compliance evaluation inspection at the CSXT property where the drums containg the waste were staged. Since the drums contained RCRA hazardous waste, and CSXT did not have a permit to store such waste, VDEQ advised CSXT to perform the prompt, proper, and legal disposal of these durms.
In August of 2010, Henrico County requested EPA assistance to properly dispose of the contaminated soil and hazardous waste materials that had been excavated and containerized.
