Virginia environmentalists are frustrated by the state Department of Environmental Quality's $27,000 fine of Norfolk Southern for a 2020 train derailment.

The derailment caused 16 boxcars to spill almost 1,400 tons of coal into the Roanoke River. The town of Salem's water plant had to halt intake for about a month over concerns of possible water contamination.

Tim Cywinski, communications manager for the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the fine is disheartening because it does not deter derailments from happening again. He feels the state failed to take certain things into consideration while determining this fine.

"I think they should have taken into account that Norfolk Southern is one of the biggest and most profitable train and freight services industries in the United States," Cywinski pointed out. "And to give them a fine that is less than the price of a new car is honestly laughable and just offensive to the fact that it impacted the people and environment of Salem, Virginia."

Cywinski added state and federal protections need to be put in place to better hold companies accountable, and to prevent such derailments from happening again.

Derailments are not uncommon. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were more than 1,100 derailments in 2020, a number which has fluctuated in the few years since.

Since Norfolk Southern first came under fire for a crash involving hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, numerous railroad safety groups have been working to improve the industry's safety regulations.

Ann Creasy, acting deputy director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said new regulations need to go hand in hand with levying appropriate fines against companies to deter future incidents.

"It's really about corporate accountability of ensuring that safety and workers and proactive measures are invested in on the front end," Creasy contended.

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate called the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bill aims to boost safety requirements for trains transporting hazardous materials. Hearings have been held, and it is currently under review by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Washington D.C. residents are pushing back on a plan to build out existing fossil fuel infrastructure.

Washington Gas' $12 billion Project Pipes plan called for upgrading existing infrastructure throughout the nation's capital despite the district's 2045 carbon neutrality goals. Environmentalists worry this will waste ratepayer's money and not address ongoing gas leaks.

Naomi Cohen-Shields, D.C. campaign manager for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said what Washington Gas is doing follows a wider national trend.

"We are seeing things like accelerated pipe replacement programs, that's what Project Pipes is," Cohen-Shields explained. "There are examples of that popping up across the country. Again, it's part of a playbook. Things like building out new gas plants like Dominion is trying to do or new pipelines, again part of the playbook."

Virginia's Dominion Energy is moving forward with a natural gas plant in Chesterfield despite residents' objections and state climate goals. In a statement, Washington Gas said it supports the District's climate goals and believes residents will be best served by a fuel-neutral approach to decarbonization. The company is pledging to help D.C. policymakers achieve the 2030 climate goals.

Washington Gas' parent company, Alta Gas, faced similar community resistance.

Cheryl Maloney, member of the Mi'kmaq Nation in Nova Scotia and other residents pushed back when the company applied to build up its methane gas infrastructure without much notice. She said Washington Gas' aged company charter should not be considered untouchable.

"They have a 1800-and-something charter that giving them rights to sell oil and gas in perpetuity, so everyone thinks they have this everlasting right," Maloney emphasized. "But it doesn't consider, do the people that hold the money have to spend it on the oil and gas infrastructure?"

The public certainly should not have to, Maloney argued, and she feels ratepayers should have more say in what utility companies invest in. She contended Washington Gas' plan is not a great deal for ratepayers who lose out on alternative clean energy options. New methane gas pipes usually last 40 to 45 years, but she added they will have shortened life spans due to the district's climate goals.

A federal court judge in Montana blocked a large project which would have logged or clear-cut more than 10,000 acres of old-growth forest and threatened an iconic bird nesting in the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

In addition to logging 16 square miles, the project would have bulldozed 40 miles of new logging roads into the Little Belt Mountains.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the decision also protects the Northern Goshawk, an old-growth-dependent species which has declined 47% in the last few years. He pointed out the bird has been under constant threat of clear-cut, which Garrity noted allows competitor species to drive it out.

"Even though they're a fairly big bird, they can fly through very tiny openings by pulling their wings in, and they can make very sharp turns," Garrity explained. "If you accidentally come close to a goshawk nest, they are very protective of their nest and they will attack people with their talons and poke out their eyes."

Garrity emphasized the U.S. Forest Service is required by its own rules to tell the public if the goshawk population declines by 10%, and did not. The Forest Service contended the Horsefly project, as it is known, would not affect the goshawk population but its own numbers showed the drastic decline in nesting sites and population.

It is one in a series of lawsuits filed by a coalition of environmental advocates, including the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, to protect species habitat. Garrity stressed the Horsefly ruling is important for the goshawk but the threats do not stop there.

"It's also important for other mature and old growth forest-dependent species, such as pine martin, lynx and forest birds," Garrity outlined. "Which are all in decline."

The court dismissed other parts of the case, including claims roads would interfere with grizzly bear habitat and threaten the elk population.

Conservation groups are circulating a petition asking the feds to give "America the Beautiful National Parks and Recreation Lands" passes to new citizens at their naturalization ceremony. Members of the group GreenLatinos have met with multiple federal agencies to pitch the idea.

Louis Medina, communications and philanthropy director with the nonprofit Friends of the Inyo, said it would make a great "Welcome to America" gift.

"It would be a great way of giving them the best that America has to offer. It could instill greater patriotism and pride, and it could create new allies in the environmental movement," Medina contended.

The pass normally costs $80 per year and gets one car with up to four adults into all national parks and monuments. Last year, more than 878,000 people became U.S. citizens.

The group also wants to start holding naturalization ceremonies at sites on public lands. And they'd like to reverse the trend of national parks going "cashless," as they have at Yosemite and Death Valley.

Medina added parks may save money by requiring everyone to pay by card, but it risks turning people away who don't have credit cards or mobile payment apps.

"For communities of color and immigrant communities that already are having issues in accessing our national parks, because of costs, because of distance, or because of lack of familiarity, then cashless entry creates yet another barrier," he continued.

The petition currently sports more than 900 signatures and is available on the GreenLatinos website.


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