(The Associated Press circulated the following story on July 14.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad Co. will test groundwater and soil for contamination at its largest rail yard under an agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The work will determine whether contamination from Bailey Yard and former roundhouse sites is moving into groundwater and private or public wells, EPA documents say.
Earlier studies indicated some contamination in eight of North Platte’s 17 city wells, according to the documents. Three of those eight wells are no longer in use.
There has been no indication of any contamination from the railroad yard reaching wells that supply North Platte’s drinking water, North Platte officials said.
North Platte City Administrator Tom Harvat said he is confident the testing at Bailey Yard will not reveal problems with city water supplies.
The city monitors its 14 wells on a regular basis, “and there’s no indication of diesel oil or any railroad contaminants in the water,” Harvat said.
Contamination at Bailey Yard would most likely be much more shallow than the levels from which the city pumps its municipal water, he said.
The city had not been notified of the testing, Harvat said, and the area involved is well outside city limits.
Under the EPA’s consent order, Union Pacific could be required to install a groundwater monitoring system to detect movement of any contamination from the yard and former roundhouse that might pose a threat to public or private wells.
“We are trying to determine what is the nature and extent of any contamination,” said Steve Kovac, branch manager with the EPA’s Superfund program in Kansas City, Kan.
The two areas that will receive the most attention – two former roundhouses – were operating before imposition of current environmental guidelines, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said.
The area include locations where diesel fuel or fuel oil may have leaked.
Over decades, “a few drips become gallons, and over time that ground gets saturated with diesel fuel,” Davis said.
The company now is aggressive in its environmental practices and cleanup, he said.