(The following story by Greg Welter appeared on the Chico Enterprise-Record website on October 28.)
STORRIE, Calif. — When they bought a small resort property in this Plumas County hamlet eight years ago, Loren and Rhonda Perkins looked forward to combining peace and solitude with a modest business opportunity.
The pine-studded setting just six miles east of the Butte County line offered vacation rentals, hosted weddings and special events, and last summer was about to become home to the area’s only sober living rehabilitation facility.
Then, on June 30, a 24-car train derailment literally sent the Perkinses’ world crashing down on top of them.
At least 10 freight and tanker cars were pushed off tracks that run virtually over the top of their property.
Half of them careened down a steep embankment, sliding to within 100 feet of the couple’s home and rental cabins.
The derailment was horrifying, but the aftermath has been worse.
Union Pacific Railroad officials said two tanker cars ruptured. One spilled about 20,000 gallons of cooking oil, the second lost its entire load — 30,000 gallons of ethanol.
Railroad officials blamed the mishap on a large boulder breaking loose and slamming into the train, about six cars back from the engine.
The railroad evacuated the couple and took immediate measures to contain surface spills, which washed over a large portion of their property.
The first cleanup attempt involved pressure washing three creek beds feeding into the north fork of the Feather River, just across Highway 70 from the property.
While trying to remove a derailed tanker, another 500 gallons of oil spilled. Officials identified that spill as canola oil, then said the 20,000-gallon spill a couple of days before was also canola oil.
Union Pacific cleared the tracks and had trains running again by July 5.
It was about 30 days after the derailment when the Perkinses’ learned the ethanol, a motor fuel, had been denatured with caustic benzene, to render it useful for a wider range of purposes. About 5 percent of the tanker load was figured to be benzene.
The benzene content alarmed state and federal agencies looking into the crash, who demanded to know why Union Pacific Railroad delayed identifying it, and why it underestimated the size of the ethanol spill, which it originally said was a “small amount,” according to a July 6 article in the Sacramento Bee.
The derailment, spot fires and ensuing efforts to contain and clean up the spills all but denuded a steep hillside behind the Perkinses’ property.
With rains coming, and no tree or brush roots to hold soil in place, the couple is concerned about the stability of the embankment.
So is the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.
On Aug. 30, a month after the accident, board engineer Eric Rapport sent an order to Union Pacific Railroad demanding it supply a plan to monitor possible contamination and prevent storm water pollution.
Rapport said the railroad missed his submission deadline, which was Sept. 27, but provided a plan on Oct. 15.
Parts of the plan have been put into action, Rapport said. The railroad contracted with Sacramento engineering firm CH2MHill to test and monitor the site.
As of last week, bore holes had been drilled on the property to test ground water, two shallow monitoring wells had been dug near a driveway, and markers had been placed on the slope to determine if it’s sliding.
That particular possibility is the biggest concern, Rapport said, and the contractor will bring in a certified geotechnical engineer to oversee the monitoring.
With the likelihood of canola oil saturating the slope down to fractured bedrock, Rapport said the chances are good it will erode faster than normal.
Another worry is air quality inside the Perkinses’ home and cabins on the property.
While Rapport said air quality remains good according to recent readings, Rhonda Perkins said odors from the spill remain strong at times, and she’s experienced lesions on her skin she can’t explain.
“She’ll be seeing a specialist about them next month in San Francisco,” her husband, Loren, said.
Additionally, trout in a spring-fed pond on the property started dying after the spills, and are now gone.
Rapport said it doesn’t look like the canola oil has reached the Feather River, which is also being monitored.
“If it does, the potential impact is large,” said Plumas County Environmental Health Specialist Jerry Sipe.
Sipe agreed that considerable monitoring efforts are being done, but little in the way of remediation.
The couple now believes they returned to the property without knowing the extent and seriousness of the spill, which they claim officials said was practically harmless.
“If we’d known about the benzene, we probably wouldn’t have gone back at all,” Loren said.
They said almost no cleanup has been done so far. “We feel they can’t clean it up,” Loren said. “They can’t even detect it.”
He believes up to 90 percent of the oil, ethanol and benzene was absorbed into the ground.
Monitoring and testing at the property may go on for two years or more.
“We really haven’t put a timetable on how long this will last,” said Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes. “We’ll be there until any pollution is removed, or no longer a threat.”
Barnes told the Enterprise-Record bags of lime in one of the derailed box cars also spilled, but claims it was completely removed before it contaminated soil.
The most visible aspect of the containment effort are yards of straw and burlap surface “booms” and vinyl fences crisscrossing the Perkins’ property, in an attempt to control erosion.
When asked what the monitoring and cleanup is costing the railroad, Barnes said he didn’t know. “We’re not overly concerned about the expense,” he said.
Whatever that cost is, it may go higher than the railroad anticipates. Loren Perkins said he and his wife have contacted an attorney, and are looking into a civil suit.
“I think we’re probably through doing business up there,” Loren said, doubting that he could even sell the property with its current status.
He said the derailment is the fourth time the railroad has affected his property. “The first was the Storrie Fire, then a couple of problems from improper culvert maintenance,” he said.
The couple is especially distraught that starting a sober living environment at the resort is seriously in doubt.
“The county has no place for people with substance abuse problems to go right now,” Loren said. “This would have been the first.”
He said arrangements for the facility had already been made with the county when the derailment occurred.
“This would have been the ideal place for it, there aren’t any neighbors.”
Staff writer Greg Welter can be reached at 896-7768 or gwelter@chicoer.com.
BACKGROUND: In 1999 Loren and Rhonda Perkins bought a two-acre resort property in tiny Storrie, where they offered vacation rentals and hosted weddings and special events.
WHAT’S NEW: The couple was ready to open a sober living center last summer, when a 24-car train derailment spilled thousands of gallons of ethanol and canola oil over the property. It may have to be monitored for hazardous pollutants for two years or more.
WHAT’S NEXT: With the future of the property in limbo, the couple has retained an attorney and may file a civil suit against Union Pacific Railroad. They no longer live there.