(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Nicholas K. Geranios on February 17.)
SPOKANE, Wash. — A new locomotive refueling station in Idaho has sprouted a second leak over the main water supply for the Spokane area, and Kootenai County, Idaho, officials want the facility closed until the problems are solved.
BNSF Railway Co. said it had closed one-third of the facility, isolated the leak and there was no damage to the environment.
Kootenai County commissioners, who approved the station, said they want the entire facility closed until further notice. Railroad spokesman Gus Melonas said that action would be premature.
“BNSF continues to evaluate necessary steps and is willing to consider any appropriate and warranted actions, including a temporary suspension of operations,” Melonas, based in Seattle, said Wednesday.
The refueling station opened in the northern Idaho town of Hauser last September despite years of opposition from local residents, who feared leaks would contaminate the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, which lies 160 feet below the depot and is the sole drinking water supply for about 400,000 people in the greater Spokane area and a portion of north Idaho. Hauser is just a couple miles from the Washington border.
The railroad has shut one of its three high-speed refueling stations in the $42 million facility, Melonas said.
Officials for the Washington state Department of Health were in contact with their counterparts in Idaho about any contamination of the aquifer.
“We don’t think there is an immediate health threat to anyone in Washington,” said Scott Torpie, an engineer with the Health Department’s Office of Drinking Water in Spokane.
About 25 trains per day are filled with diesel, antifreeze and lubricants at the facility, which was built to relieve rail congestion in the Seattle area.
On Monday, during a company inspection of a leak-detection system, petroleum was found to have leaked, according to the BNSF statement. The railroad described the leak as a “slight sheen of petroleum” within the depot’s containment area.
Two layers of high-density plastic are buried below the refueling platform, which pumps more than 200,000 gallons of diesel on any given day.
“There is no evidence that the environment has been impacted,” Melonas said.
The cause of this leak is still under investigation, Melonas said.
The leak is the second reported at the depot since it opened. The previous leak, detected Dec. 10, spilled thousands of gallons of fuel-tainted wastewater directly into the ground over a period of three months.
Traces of diesel have since been found in the aquifer, although at levels below the threshold for human health danger.
The latest spill was reported Monday afternoon to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Melonas said. The agency is still negotiating with BNSF over how to fix the first leak.
The initial spill was caused by a broken drain pipe. Railroad officials say the wastewater now is being collected regularly by a vacuum truck for disposal off site.
“BNSF is committed to protection of the aquifer and will continue to extensively test the area,” Melonas said Wednesday.