Deal reached on aborted sale of Columbiana Co. rail line

COLUMBIANA — The Columbiana County Port Authority is keeping one-third of a good-faith payment given by a Canadian energy company that decided against purchasing the Youngstown & Southern rail line.

The port authority is keeping $50,000 of the $150,000, said Tracy Drake, the organization’s executive director.

The agreement comes before the release of a final report on the environmental

concerns cited by Tervita, which claimed there was contamination near a rail-car barn on the southern portion of the line.

Under terms of the $2.9 million agreement, Tervita was permitted to stop the deal because of environmental concerns. It did so in August.

“We kept $50,000, and that was done prior to the final determination simply because we wanted to get it settled,” Drake said.

For the complete story, read Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com