(The Associated Press circulated the following story on December 28.)
SPOKANE — An environmental group has given its “Dead Swan Award” to a railroad that built a fueling depot over an aquifer that is the only source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people.
The tongue-in-cheek award — recognizing “corporations and individuals who excel in polluting or degrading the waters of the Upper Columbia River” — was given Tuesday to BNSF Railway by the Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River Group.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas did not immediately return a call.
The railroad company opened the train-fueling depot near Hauser, Idaho, in September 2004. It sits atop the Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer.
Three months after the depot opened, the railroad disclosed that the facility was leaking contaminated wastewater into the aquifer.
Idaho obtained a court order to temporarily shut the depot because of a potential public-health threat. The depot was later reopened.
The award is named for tundra swans that die after ingesting lead while feeding in areas polluted by mining.