(The Associated Press circulated the following article on May 3.)
SPOKANE, Wash. — A hearing on whether a leaking Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. fueling depot will reopen has been continued to give Idaho officials time to study a proposed fix.
Railroad lawyers agreed Monday to give the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality more time to read the railroad’s plan to manage cracks in the depot’s concrete platform and plans to detect and manage leaks in plastic liners.
“We are working with DEQ to give more time to analyze data,” said Steve Millsap, a BNSF assistant vice president.
State regulators want to check the railway company’s work before signing off on the reopening of the Hauser locomotive refueling depot.
DEQ hydrogeologist Gary Stevens said it would take about two weeks for BNSF to address all of the state’s concerns.
Preliminary analysis indicates between 10 and 50 gallons per day could be leaking. A 25-gallon-per-day leak would reach the aquifer in 40 days, he said.
First District Judge Charles Hosack issued a temporary restraining order shutting down the depot Feb. 23 because of potential risks to the Rathdrum Prairie-Spokane Valley Aquifer. The aquifer is the main source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people.
Railroad officials said the two-month closure has been costly and slowed the company’s ability to rapidly refuel trains in its 11-state Northern Tier region.
The closure has cost $18.6 million in repairs and lost revenue, said Maxine Timberman, terminal supervisor for BNSF in Hauser and Spokane, Wash.
BNSF contend matters of interstate commerce are outside of the state’s jurisdiction.
Idaho Deputy Attorney General Curt Fransen said protecting drinking water doesn’t interfere with commerce.
“All repairs and upgrades are designed to do what BNSF agreed to do in the first place,” Fransen said.
Stevens said DEQ wants to study leaks in the containment layers to determine how much the depot could leak before it shows up in the leak detection systems.
“It’s a sole-source aquifer. We’re very concerned to minimize or eliminate impacts to the aquifer,” Stevens said Monday, the second day of hearings to determine the fate of the depot.
The DEQ thinks leaks occurred in both liners beneath the depot’s main refueling platform. BNSF experts say oily dirt and tainted water found below the liners could be from lubricants used to drill wells to investigate the leaks.
The state also wants more proof that the aquifer is not threatened by several small holes that remain in the liners below the facility.
Before the depot opened Sept. 1, the state had an agreement with BNSF to regularly inspect the depot and test groundwater monitoring wells.
Now that extensive repairs have been made to fix problems at the depot, more rigorous monitoring is needed, Stevens said.