NS Calls Off Atlanta Rail Transfer Project Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The NS facility was to be located on the former Chattahoochee Brick Co. site, which was said to have relied on convict lease labor to produce millions of bricks between the late 1870s and early 1900s.
Norfolk Southern (NS) has walked away from building a rail transfer facility in Atlanta, Ga., following community opposition and potential litigation.
The Class I railroad’s decision follows the city of Atlanta’s filing Feb. 12 of a petition for preliminary injunction with the Surface Transportation Board (Docket Number: FD 36485; Filing ID: 301626). The filing states: “Despite the historical importance of Chattahoochee Brick, the floodplain, and the environmental conditions on the site, NS and [property owner] Lincoln Terminal have commenced construction of a transload facility on the site without regard to the myriad local health and safe
Norfolk Southern terminates project on former Chattahoochee Brick Company site
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NORFOLK, Va., Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) today announced it has terminated plans to build a rail transfer facility on the site of the former Chattahoochee Brick Company in Atlanta. We accepted from the beginning that we had a special responsibility to develop this site in a socially and environmentally responsible way, given the atrocities that once took place there, said James A. Squires, chairman, president and CEO. We believe our project presented an opportunity to create a long-overdue memorial to the painful legacy of the site, and at the same time reshape its future by building new river trails and putting the long-abandoned land back into productive use in a way that benefits the regional economy.
Report: Advocacy group also hunting for source of unpleasant odor in Brunswick
Mystery behind source of foul-smelling odor puzzles residents and advocates
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What’s that smell? Unpleasant odor wafts through Brunswick
BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division isn’t the only agency investigating the source of an unpleasant odor in Brunswick.
Glynn Environmental Coalition, an environmental advocacy group, told the Brunswick News that citizens deserve an answer, and the GEC hopes to be able to provide one if the EPD can’t.
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Georgia’s EPD has received dozens of odor complaints throughout Glynn County since early December.
Potential elevated cancer risk
For the Gills, that answer came in July 2019 while watching the local news about an online article written by WebMD and Georgia Health News, which uncovered a 2018 report by the Environmental Protection Agency called the National Air Toxics Assessment. It used 2014 data and new calculations to identify 109 areas in the U.S. which showed potentially elevated cancer risk. Most of the risk was driven by ethylene oxide.
Until that moment, the Gills had never heard of ethylene oxide.
“I’m still not 100 percent sure what it is other than it’s a carcinogenic chemical,” Roxanne said.