(The Associated Press circulated the following article 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.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) 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 facility closed until further notice. BNSF 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 yesterday.
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 northern Idaho. Hauser is 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.