Beaver Dam Blamed for Train Derailment

A beaver dam is to blame for a derailment that caused a forest fire in Maine in 2023, authorities say. Maine Land Use Planning Commission official Audie Arbo said Wednesday that "a vast amount of water" came through culverts and washed out part of the track after a flow designed to allow water through the dam let go, the Bangor Daily News reports. But the rodents are off the hook for a subsequent oil spill. The Daily News reports that 500 gallons of diesel oil spilled into wetlands because Canadian Pacific Kansas City failed to empty saddle tanks on a locomotive before removing it during the cleanup effort.

Three locomotive engines and six train cars carrying lumber and electrical wiring came off the tracks in the April 15, 2023, derailment, the AP reports. Three railway workers were injured. Arbo said Wednesday that environmental remediation work at the site in Somerset County was completed late last year and new culverts have been installed. (These beavers in the Czech Republic saved taxpayers $1.2 million.)