Railroad Fined For Dumping Debris From Sinkhole Burlington Northern Fined $10,000 For Putting Material Into Lake River
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has been fined $10,000 for dumping debris from a sinkhole and landslide into Lake River without a permit.
Patricia Graesser, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle, said the railroad was notified last week.
“They did come and ask for an emergency permit March 26, but they already had been placing material into the river for several weeks prior to that,” Graesser said Thursday.
If an emergency permit is granted, one condition will be that the debris which has been dumped in the river be removed, she added.
Dumping has been stopped, and railroad crews are preparing to install a trench drainage system to stabilize the area near Felida, north of Vancouver, a company spokesman said.
The problem began last month as a widening sinkhole threatened two houses on a hill east of the rail line and spilled mud, rocks and other debris onto the tracks.
To keep the north-south freight and passenger line open, the material was shoved into the river alongside the rail line.
Railroad spokesman Gus Melonas said Thursday that work had begun on a project to prevent future erosion.
“We … will fund installation of a drainage system that our engineers say will help stabilize and lead to solidification of the slide area. This should be a win-win situation for everybody,” he said.
Graesser said no permit is needed to install the drainage system.
The stabilization project is reassuring, said Don Nelson, owner of one of the threatened homes.
“It looks like we’re going to be getting a little relief here,” Nelson said. “You begin to see a light at the end of a tunnel instead of a match stick burning down there.”
He and his wife, Joanna, and Ralph and Judie Kastner, owners of the other threatened house, have blamed the sinkhole partly on housing developments to the east and vibrations from the trains.
Last week they had 2,500 tons of rock and 400 tons of sand dumped into the part of the hole closest to their homes.
xxxx EMERGENCY MEASURES To keep the north-south freight and passenger line open, the material was shoved into the river alongside the rail line.