Nearly two years after launching an investigation into allegations that Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad violated local, state and federal clean water rules at three work sites, the state Department of Ecology announced Tuesday it has reached a settlement with the railroad.

The railroad has been ordered to pay $31,058 in fines. The three work sites were near Curtin Creek in the Barberton area, Northeast 78th Street in the Walnut Grove neighborhood and the Chelatchie Bluff mineral lands. Construction work at the three sites is tied to the railroad’s efforts to develop several new rail yards along the 33 miles of the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad tracks between Vancouver and Amboy.

The settlement also requires the railroad to resolve environmental concerns Ecology laid out in a March 202

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