BNSF to halt property purchases

In an attempt to mend fences with frustrated locals, railroad officials last week announced an end to property acquisitions in downtown Whitefish and a new tack the company hopes will improve relations and move pollution clean-up efforts forward.

Charles Shewmake, BNSF Railway vice president and general counsel, told Gov. Brian Schweitzer and about 30 state and local officials, media personnel and concerned residents gathered in Depot Park on July 7 that no human health hazards exist in the Railroad District, and he apologized for how the situation was handled.

In an effort to provide more "truth and transparency," the company will post information on a new Web site, www.montana-remediation.info, and in newspaper ads, Shewmake said. For example, the company now acknowledges responsibility for the historical pollution at the company's Whitefish rail yard instead of denying it.

"Originally constructed in the early 1900s, the Whitefish facility dates back to a time when neither companies, governments nor individuals were as aware of or concerned about the environment as we are, and should be, today," the company says in its new Web site. "And over the past century of operations, there have been some environmental impacts before the consequences were fully understood."

Admitting responsibility for pollution and taking responsibility for cleaning it up is one thing. Local property owners, however, were angered when BNSF began buying up properties in downtown Whitefish about four months ago, threatening property values and shutting down development of at least one large project.

Shewmake said the company began acquiring the properties in an effort to "maintain our litigation risk" in light of the 2004 Sunburst case, which awarded restoration damages in lieu of diminution of property value, and not to avoid a clean-up. But high real estate values here were a factor in the company's decision to stop purchasing properties, he said.

"Property values here have been holding up well, so it didn't make sense to acquire additional properties," Shewmake said. "It was also a distraction from remediation efforts and was causing concerns to the community."

Suzanne Brooks, who owns property in the gentrifying Railroad District, wanted to know if BNSF intends to let purchased property — three houses and several others in negotiation — stand empty.

Shewmake made it clear that BNSF is a railroad company, not a real estate company, and it doesn't want to hold onto the properties for a long time.

"If there is no contamination, then why not put the properties back on the market?" mayor Mike Jenson asked, thereby proving BNSF's support for the Railroad District and its property owners.

Shewmake agreed but made no promises because he felt BNSF had an obligation to some people to complete transactions already underway. Shawna Moore, who owns property east of the middle school, is one of those people.

"I just had my land appraised, so I need to know soon — should I sell or not?" she asked.

When Montana Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper said the agency has no air quality concerns, Moore pointed out that she can smell diesel and sewage while walking on the BNSF Loop bike path.

"I'm willing to eat lunch in the Railroad District if that will ease anyone's fears," Shewmake said.

Rhonda Fitzgerald and Jan Metzmaker expressed concerns about the Superfund site's impact on tourism and the city's downtown master plan, which calls for revitalizing the Railroad District. Tourists' fear of pollution is like fear of forest fires, Fitzgerald said, and she asked Shewmake to change the name of their new Web site so Whitefish was not part of the URL.

The era of large-scale diesel fuel spills are over, Shewmake pointed out.

"If just one quart of fuel spills on the ground, I get a page," he said.

Opper confirmed the railroad consultant's conclusion that the underground diesel plumes at the rail yard are pretty much stable. Unlike Livingston, where BNSF is involved in another clean-up project, Whitefish has lacustrine soils that contain clay, which slows the migration of chemicals underground, Opper said.

"How do you get them to stop at property lines?" asked Bill Kahle, the developer behind the Conductors Row mixed-use project bordering BNSF land.

Kahle said he and his partner knew buying land next to a rail yard was a risk, but when he contacted DEQ, he was told his property was outside the Superfund site boundary.

"The boundary has changed significantly since then," he noted.

A bakery from Kalispell was lined up as a tenant at Conductors Row but pulled out because of the reputation the neighborhood was getting, said Mary Jane Barrett, a property owner in the Railroad District.

"How do you resurrect Kahle's anchor project?" she asked Shewmake.

Kahle said he and his partner intend to hire a consultant and do their own testing to establish whether a human health risk exists. He said DEQ failed to protect his property, and he asked DEQ to compel BNSF to clean up the rail yard.

Opper, however, said DEQ wasn't ready to proceed with a clean-up plan for the rail yard, which might mean excavating because the glacial-till, clay soils are not conducive to pumping schemes used in gravel substrates.

"There won't be any digging this year," Opper said.

DEQ has been short of funds to complete a remediation plan, Opper said, but a 'revamped" Superfund program is now collecting more than 90 percent of the needed money, compared to 67 percent in the past.

He noted that DEQ recently assigned Matthew Kent as project manager for the Whitefish Superfund site, and DEQ backed the city of Whitefish's application for $50,000 in grant money to do a third-party investigation to determine the extent of the contamination.

Allen Stegman, BNSF Railway general director of environmental affairs, confirmed that the Environmental Protection Agency, the lead agency for remediation of the Whitefish River, has issued an order on a possible river clean-up.

"Something will happen there this year," Stegman said.