Railway cleanup project focus of meeting

Plans for cleanup work at a state Superfund site on BNSF Railway property in Whitefish will be the focus of a public meeting March 12.

Spills and leaks at locomotive fueling facilities, and oily discharges to wastewater lagoons, have caused soil and shallow groundwater contamination on the site, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality reports.

BNSF has been working with DEQ on a cleanup plan, which includes a human health risk assessment that currently is underway.

“We’ve done all the investigation to determine where the contamination is,” said Jessica Gutting Smith, of the DEQ. “What we’re looking at now is what is still present and how can that affect someone.”

The Superfund site is listed as a high priority site on the Montana Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act Priority List.

Gutting said there will be some type of cleanup, but to what extent remains unknown.

“There will be work, but we’re not sure to what depth,” she said. “It might not be that expansive.”

Crews recently investigated whether thermal remediation could be used on an historic trichloroethylene plume west of the roundhouse at the rail yard. BNSF has submitted a proposal for voluntary cleanup of the site.

Gutting Smith said tests show the plume is not as big or as concentrated as previously thought, and that thermal remediation wouldn’t be appropriate.

BNSF will submit cleanup plans at a later date, she said.

Also at the upcoming meeting, DEQ representatives will discuss the final assessment of the Whitefish River cleanup project that began in 2009 and wrapped up in 2013.

Gutting Smith said results show there’s no risk for boating, wading, or eating fish from the river. She will go over the results in more detail at the public meeting and will discuss future plans for collecting biological samples on the river.

“We want to make sure that ecologically things are coming back,” she said.

She will also talk about results from vapor intrusion samples taken in 2010 around Whitefish.

The meeting is set for March 12 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at City Hall.