Originally Posted By: userfriendly
http://tort.laws.com/tort-law
Railways carry all sorts of hazardous materials and chemicals that sometimes run, drip or are spilled out of the railcars during transit or accidently onto the ties.
If a railroad company sold or allowed those contaminated ties to leave their property, they will be held responsible if any injury, sickness or death that could be traced back to those ties.
Due to the number of used ties, telephone poles and cross arms taken out of service annually, an environmentally friendly solution to the problem had to be established.
Coming to a land fill near you? Not in my back yard, and those that do, must be approved by state and local laws.
Don't stand in or breathe the smoke from burning ties, you don't know where it's been.
I agree RR ties should not be burned NOR should they be used for landscaping or building garden beds close to food crops and gardens; however, a used RR tie is not automatically classified as HazWaste under federal guidelines.
http://www.tercenter.org/pages/crossties.cfm