(The following story by Micah Sturr appeared on the Laramie Boomerang website on November 16.)
LARAMIE, Wyo. — During rainstorms, sediment from the Union Pacific rail yard is washed into Laramie’s residential storm water drainage system. The problem with sedimentation was reported to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by a concerned resident, and the agency proceeded to inspect the site and issued a letter to Union Pacific detailing the problem and requesting the railroad implement a plan to address it.
“We’re going to be working with the Wyoming DEQ under their storm water program there for the state, which is what we do for the other rail yards also,” Mark Ross, manager of environmental field operations for Union Pacific said.
Because Union Pacific doesn’t have a sediment containment structure, and also currently doesn’t have the necessary industrial storm water permit, sediment from the rail yard runs freely into the storm drainage system, in some cases covering storm drains and in others building up several inches of sediment. It then runs into the Laramie river.
“It’s getting into our streets where kids play and people ride their bikes. These are neighborhood streets. True, it’s an industrial yard there, but it’s a residential area right next door and the least we can ask for is for U.P. to be a good neighbor and to clean up the mess that they leave and to be a little better about controlling what comes off of their yard,” Jeremy Nichols, who filed the complaint with the DEQ, said.
In addition to the mess, which can extend a block and a half into residential streets, Nichols said, there is a larger issue of municipal cost and potential environmental damage associated with the sediment runoff. Sediment build-up can hinder water flow in the storm drainage system and ultimately reduce capacity. Accumulation of sediment in the Laramie River can choke off aquatic life and damage fish populations.
“For people sediment isn’t a heath problem— dirt doesn’t hurt you. It’s a problem if Laramie were to get it’s water out of the Laramie river there would be more water treatment costs because there would be more sediment; it could reduce the fishing resource and it could reduce the aquatic life resource because, for example, sediment can smother spawning beds or smother other vegetation,” Storm Water Coordinator for the Water Quality Division of the DEQ Barb Sahl said.
Sahl investigated the rail yard based on Nichol’s complaint, and in addition to the sediment problem, she found that, because the yard serves as a diesel fueling site, Union Pacific is required to have a industrial storm water permit as required by the Federal Clean Water Act. A letter of violation was issued to Union Pacific and the company has until January 30 to submit a proposal to address all of the DEQ’s issues.
“As the Wyoming DEQ asked us to, we’re going to put together a proposal for addressing their concerns about the sediment washing out of the yard and into the city storm drains,” Director of Public Affairs for Union Pacific John Bromley said.
Union Pacific has hired a Denver firm to draft a proposal to be submitted by the deadline, Bromley said. He also said that Union Pacific is happy to comply with DEQ regulations and foresees no problems in meeting the requirements set forth in the letter of violation.
Similarly, Sahl said she doesn’t foresee any problems with Union Pacific developing a “best management practices” plan. Most companies comply with the first letter and rarely does she have to go further by sending a notice of violation, Sahl said.
After doing research, Nichols was concerned, however, that Union Pacific didn’t initially have the proper permit when other rail yards in Wyoming had them.
“I noticed that the Rawlins rail yard has a storm water permit, so do Evanston, Green River, but Laramie didn’t though, and I thought that was very unusual,” Nichols said.
Bromley said he didn’t want to compare rail yards and didn’t know how common environmental problems involving runoff sediment from yards is.
“It’s probably safe to assume that with the various states and counties and towns that we operate in. I sure we have a variety of agreements to handle runoff from our property and I would assume that this is probably similar to things we’ve done elsewhere,” Bromley said.