Indianapolis-The mystery appears to deepen in the July 2009 derailment involving 70 top-loading hopper cars filled with potash fertilizer that were released from a unused railroad spur leading to a inactive coal mine, derailing 22 of them and causing a $1 million cleanup. More than five months after the incident, Indiana State Police (ISP) Sgt. Joe Watts told Green Markets that there are still no new developments in the incident, which was at first believed to be caused by a prankster. Indiana Rail Road Co. posted a $20,000 reward, and its spokesman Chris Rund reported, “Our early investigation was that there is a strong possibility of equipment tampering and we are treating it as a criminal investigation.” Queried on Dec. 16, ISP’s Watts replied, “We have no new leads at this time, nor have any arrests been made. No arrests appear to be in the near future either.” The cars, coupled together and parked for long-term storage by the Indiana Rail Road Co., for some reason left this spot and traveled southwest nearly four miles to the end of the spur line in eastern Sullivan County.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain