(The following story by Jamie Satterfield appeared on the Knoxville News website on January 25.)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Warning: Reading this story could make you afraid to go outside.
You just never know what’s out there in the air. Acid rain. Sulfuric acid. Sulfur dioxide. And that’s just in West Knoxville.
All those competing toxins have cost a Parkside Drive auto dealership a shot at collecting big bucks from a railway company for mysterious damages to 248 vehicles the same weekend as a train derailment that sent acid-containing white plumes shooting into the air in Farragut.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday backing U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips’ decision to toss out a lawsuit filed by Beaty Chevrolet Co. against Norfolk Southern Railway.
It was one of more than a dozen lawsuits, most still pending, filed against Norfolk Southern over a September 2002 derailment near Anchor Park in Farragut.
A tanker carrying 10,600 gallons of sulfuric acid ruptured, and plumes shot hundreds of feet into the air, prompting emergency officials to evacuate about 3,000 people in West Knox county.
Winds blew the acid cloud across Fort Loudoun Lake, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 people in Blount County.
Many of those evacuated were kept from their homes for three days.
The National Transportation Safety Board ultimately ruled it was Norfolk Southern’s fault that the train derailed.
Beaty’s lawsuit, filed by attorney Toby R. Carpenter, involved damage to cars and trucks that were five miles from the site of the derailment.
According to Phillips’ opinion, Beaty alleged it closed on the night of Sept. 14, 2002, with 248 cars and trucks parked outside and in mint condition and reopened two days later to find the vehicles covered in “pits and blemishes on painted surfaces and plastic trim.”
The derailment occurred Sept. 15, 2002.
Carpenter argued that there could only be one cause for the wholesale damages – all that sulfuric acid floating in the air from the ruptured tanker.
But attorneys John W. Baker Jr. and Michael K. Atkins countered with experts who downplayed the levels of sulfuric acid in the air hours after the derailment and contended winds were blowing away from the dealership.
One expert testified that there were more likely culprits for the car damage, namely acid rain or emissions from a nearby power plant.
“Mr. Gale Hoffnagle has opined that the damage to Beaty’s vehicles was caused by acid rain, since Eastern Tennessee is the area of the country with the most acidic rainfall of anywhere in the nation,” Phillips wrote.
Hoffnagle also pointed to TVA’s Bull Run Power Plant, which is some 13 miles from the dealership.
“Hoffnagle indicates that on Sept. 15, 2002, the 304,966 pounds of sulfur dioxide emissions from the power plant was the highest total for the month,” Phillips wrote.
Combine all that sulfur dioxide with acid rain and winds blowing from the power plant toward the dealership and therein lies a recipe for ruined paint jobs, according to Hoffnagle’s testimony.
Phillips also noted that no homes or businesses on a path between the derailment site and Beaty sustained similar damage.
With all those chemicals as potential suspects, Phillips said he had no choice but to toss out the case.
“As easy as it would be to just blame (Norfolk Southern) for this acid damage the court must conclude that Beaty has presented no credible evidence that the sulfuric acid released at the derailment site found its way to and targeted only this dealership,” the judge wrote.