Iowa Landowners, BNSF Railway Reach Settlement Over 2018 Oil Train Derailment

(Sioux City) Iowa landowners and BNSF Railway have settled a lawsuit over an oil train derailment in 2018. Details, including the amount paid out, are not being released publicly.

The derailment in June of 2018 spilled around 160-thousand gallons of tar sand oil into floodwaters in Lyon County. Several farms in the area had to be evacuated. In 2021, BNSF agreed to pay the E-P-A one and a half million dollars in settlement for the spill.

The lawsuit against the railroad company for the ongoing cleanup and reduced property values they say were caused by oil and contaminants that remain in the soil.