(The following article by Mike Dennison was posted on the Billings Gazette website on January 26.)
HELENA, Mont. — In a letter to BNSF Railway, Montana’s top environmental official says it’s time for less talk and more cleanup at the company’s polluted railroad yards around the state.
The letter, written last month by Environmental Quality Director Richard Opper and obtained recently by the Gazette State Bureau, says the state will no longer engage in lengthy negotiations on cleanup details.
“It’s time to make a shift in the nature of our work on these projects, and we’re going to work less on negotiations and more on cleanup,” Opper said in an interview this week. “The point is not to punish BN. It’s to achieve both of our objectives, and that is to move toward cleanup faster.”
BNSF, formerly Burlington Northern Railroad, has 18 sites on the state Superfund list, most of which are rail yards polluted by diesel fuel, solvents used to clean or service engines and engine parts. Groundwater has been affected at some sites.
The worst sites include Livingston, Havre, Missoula and Whitefish.
Opper said his decision in December to implement “target dates” and other steps to speed the process departs from past practice that seemed to allow “endless negotiation over some very fine points of detail.”
Jim Barrett, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council in Livingston, said Wednesday the approach is a welcome change.
“I’m very pleased that the governor or whoever has decided to put their foot down and say, ‘Let’s get on with things and do what’s right for the people,’ ” he said. In the past, “they bent over backwards to allow the rail company to challenge any recommendations.”
The council is a citizen watchdog group that monitors BNSF’s cleanup at Livingston, where diesel fuel and solvents have been discovered in the groundwater.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said Wednesday he hadn’t seen the letter, but that the railroad has spent “millions and millions of dollars on the various cleanups and remains committed to finishing the jobs.
“We’re obviously not walking away from it,” he said.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said this week his administration won’t give BNSF any special consideration, and that the company should be held responsible for cleaning up its pollution, as would any business.
“Just because you’re the biggest dog on the block doesn’t mean you get a free ride,” he said. “We have to be fair. Whether you are a large corporation in Fort Worth (Texas), we’re going to treat you the same as a small business in Montana.”
Opper’s letter, dated Dec. 6 and sent to BNSF executive Mark Stehly in Fort Worth, said the state is implementing these policy changes “immediately”:
— Establishing target dates for completing all negotiations on investigation or cleanup, or both, of BN Superfund sites. If the date passes and negotiations aren’t successful, the state will take action to close the issue.
— Giving BNSF one chance to address state requirements on investigation or cleanup plans, or both, after which the state will answer the railroad’s response and then move ahead. Opper wrote that the state will “no longer provide BNSF with multiple opportunities to comply with (state) requirements.”
“Instead of this endless negotiations loop we’re saying, ‘Give us your best shot,’ ” Opper said. “We have tried very, very hard (in the past) to come to consensus. We still want to shoot for that. We just won’t sacrifice time frames to insist on it.”
The state has listed as “maximum priority” the cleanups at Livingston and Havre and has issued “unilateral administrative orders” telling BN to complete cleanup work at Havre, Missoula and Whitefish.
At Livingston, where cleanup plans and talks have been on-going for two decades, some cleanup has occurred, but the state is still reviewing work plans.
BNSF sites listed a “high priority” for cleanup include fueling facilities at Helena, Missoula, Great Falls, Laurel and Whitefish. On the “medium priority” list are BNSF refueling facilities in Billings and Butte.
Opper said he’s optimistic the change in policy will improve the relationship between the state and the railroad.
“It will be better for both of us, but, more importantly, better for the people in the communities,” he said.