Company works on cleanup plan for Whitefish rail yard [Missoulian (MT)]

Missoulian, 2013-02-16

WHITEFISH - Officials with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway are drafting a plan to clean an isolated section of contaminated soil at its Whitefish rail yard, which is adjacent to downtown and the Whitefish River.

BNSF will submit the remediation plan to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for approval in the next month, and the company intends to begin actual cleanup this summer.

The project will focus on a section of ground that is between 50 and 75 feet in diameter and contains a trichloroethylene plume near the railroad's roundhouse, a distinct building located on the southwest corner of the BNSF railroad facilities that can be seen from downtown Whitefish. The roundhouse is used to maintain locomotives.

Jessica Gutting, DEQ project officer, said it is not yet known how deep the plume of trichloroethylene runs. She said the chemical is commonly used as a degreaser and was used by BNSF in cleaning solvents.

"The problem is identifying how deep down the plume goes," she said, adding that, unlike petroleum, which rises, trichloroethylene sinks.

Ground contamination is common in rail yards but typically involves diesel contamination. The roundhouse cleanup is part of a broader, ongoing remediation project involving BNSF's rail yard in Whitefish that will take years to complete. The project focuses on ground and groundwater contamination from diesel spills, and BNSF is working to prepare a human health risk assessment that Gutting estimates will be finished in the next two to three years.

"Right now, we are going through the supplemental remedial report with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there are not any data gaps," she said. "Once we have the overall picture of the entire site, we will be able to determine the risk to human health."

There have been other environmental remediation projects related to BNSF's Whitefish rail yard in recent years. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the company to clean the Whitefish River after an oily sheen was reported in the water.

That same year, another oily sheen was spotted on the shoreline of Whitefish Lake, prompting a local nonprofit to investigate the contaminated sediment. The Whitefish Lake Institute determined the contamination was left from a BNSF train car derailment in 1989, when tens of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the water.

Subsequent water and soil testing revealed the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons, and the local nonprofit group alerted the EPA, which ordered BNSF to remove approximately 400 cubic yards of petroleum-tainted sediment.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the railway is working with a contractor to come up with a remediation plan for the roundhouse and that the document will be reviewed by the DEQ.

"BNSF is working with an environmental consulting team to develop plans that will be reviewed by the DEQ," he said. "We hope to initiate the remediation program at the BNSF Whitefish yard in the summer of 2013. This is contained to the railroad property at Whitefish and we will continue to work closely with DEQ through this effort."

Gutting said the compact, clay-rich soils common in the Whitefish area likely helped contain the plume of trichloroethylene, but DEQ and the railroad will need to gather more data. She also said the plume is not likely to contaminate the river because BNSF built an interceptor trench that filters water and catches petroleum hydrocarbons, removing them from the groundwater before it reaches the Whitefish River.

When the human health risk assessment is complete and cleanup begins, Gutting said she hopes to see advances in remedial technology.

"I really think we are going to see some interesting new technology come out of this project," she said.

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