(The following story by Tammy Sakry appeared on the Coon Rapids Herald website on June 24, 2010.)
COON RAPIDS, Minn. — In 1963, there was a train accident on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Rail line in what is now Ramsey and drums of powdered lead arsenate were dumped.
This fall, the rail company will be cleaning up remnants of the accident, near the intersection of Ramsey Boulevard.
“When the incident initially occurred in 1963, we cleaned up the site according to standards of the time. In the 1980s, there was renewed interest in the site. The EPA determined the site met the appropriate standards, but we’ve continued to work on the site with the MPCA Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program,” said Amy McBeth, BNSF public affairs spokesperson.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) reopened the site in the 1980s after an anonymous call claimed the drums were buried at the site during the clean up.
No drums were found during the investigation but MPCA discovered the soil had been tainted with the powdered lead arsenate.
This fall BNSF will be digging out 5,700 cubic yards of soil from the storm water retention pond and its embankment, north of the Highway 10 Burger King, she said.
The tainted soil will be trucked the same day that it’s removed to the Veolia non-hazardous waste landfill, near Buffalo.
According to McBeth, new soil will be brought in to restore the area.
BNSF is still working out the access agreements to the site with the property owners. The exact date the project will start will be determined later this year.
The 30-day project should have minimal impact on Ramsey Boulevard, neighboring properties and the Northstar Commuter Rail and BNSF train schedules, McBeth said.
The project received unanimous approval June 8 from the Ramsey City Council, which also agreed to allow BNSF to have access to a city-owned parcel near the rail line and store equipment on it.