Solution proposed for tankers in Mayfield

BY SCOTT SHENK

There’s another twist to the Mayfield tanker storage issue, and it looks like it could be a good one for residents of the Fredericksburg neighborhood.

Sen. Bryce Reeves, R–Spotsylvania, said in a release Wednesday that he is working on a plan that would move the ethanol tankers to a Dumfries storage yard. This move apparently means the tankers would no longer be stored near Mayfield. The move also apparently would replace the original plans to add a new storage track farther from the neighborhood and to store some tankers at the Bowman Center in the Spotsylvania Industrial Park just across the city line and State Route 2/U.S. 17 from Mayfield.

“This arrangement basically eliminates the need for any storage or distribution point of the ethanol in Fredericksburg and mitigates risk concerns,” the senator said in the release.

Reeves said he is still working with CSX Transportation, which owns the railroad tracks, “to tailor my bill to allow this process to happen.”

He added that there are plans to build “an aesthetic buffer” between the rail yard and Mayfield.

The original plan included the addition of a berm to serve as a buffer between Mayfield and the rail yard.

Reeves plans to meet with city officials and Mayfield residents soon to discuss plans for the buffer.

The situation surfaced in the fall of 2009, when Mayfield residents noticed more black tanker cars being stored in the city rail yard just across Railroad Avenue from their neighborhood.

Community leaders began pushing to have the railcars moved when they discovered that the tankers held chlorine, ammonium hydroxide and sulfuric acid—chemicals that posed a threat not only for Mayfield but also for the rest of the city.

Tankers carrying those chemicals are now dropped off at their original destination in Milford.

Scott Shenk:  540/374-5436

sshenk@freelancestar.com

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