(The following article by Gwen Florio was posted on the Great Falls Tribune website on April 18.)
HELENA, Mont. — The feud between BNSF Railway and the administration of Gov. Brian Schweitzer continues, with the railroad taking out full-page ads in Montana newspapers to criticize the administration, and Schweitzer taking umbrage at that criticism.
At issue is the long-delayed cleanup of a state Superfund site in Livingston. Last month, the state declared it would take over the cleanup, and bill BNSF.
On Thursday, BNSF took out ads in newspapers around the state. Those ads were headlined “Montanans deserve the facts concerning BNSF’s environmental actions” bannered atop three scenic photos of mountains, a lake and a waterfall.
“Recent news stories reported that the State has accused BNSF of intentionally delaying environmental cleanup efforts in Montana….The recent attacks on BNSF are unwarranted,” the ad read.
“Deny, delay, deceive. That’s what they’ve been doing,” Schweitzer shot back Monday, in a telephone call from San Diego, where he is at a New Frontier Power Summit, focused on projects that would connect Western power grids.
In Livingston, the railroad and state have been going round for nearly 20 years about the cleanup of contaminated groundwater and pollution from old rail yards. Last month, Schweitzer accused BNSF of dragging its feet.
BNSF says any delays are the state’s fault.
“We take this matter very seriously and wanted to ensure that the public recognizes the steps we have taken, and our commitment toward environmental actions at Livingston. There had been inaccurate information communicated (by the state) that required correction,” said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas, as to why the railroad ran the ads. The ads appeared for a single day.
Thursday’s ad, for which the railroad paid $4,540.80 in the Great Falls Tribune, contains a timeline starting in 1988. It includes four years of state Department of Environmental Quality cleanup, three years of DEQ preparation, and more than a year of DEQ review.
“I don’t really want to get into a blame game with these guys,” said DEQ Director Richard Opper. “…But I would think that the roughly $18,617.33 they spent on these ads across the state might have been better spent on cleaning up pollution.”
Opper said he called the newspapers to determine the ads’ total cost.