State Officials’ Views On Depot Mixed Morrison Favors Bnsf Proposal, While 3 Lawmakers Are Opposed

Two days before the deadline for public comment, Washington state officials sent conflicting messages to Kootenai County commissioners regarding the proposed railroad refueling depot near Hauser.

Three Washington lawmakers from Spokane asked Kootenai County commissioners Monday to turn down the proposed railroad refueling depot near Hauser.

In another letter received Monday, Washington Secretary of Transportation Sid Morrison said the depot is needed to help solve train congestion in the Seattle area.

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway wants to build a 500,000-gallon diesel refueling depot atop the aquifer that is the sole drinking water source for hundreds of thousands of residents on both sides of the state line.

The Kootenai County commission will host a public hearing Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Lake City High School, 6101 Ramsey Road. Those hearings could continue Thursday and Friday if needed.

The commission then will deliberate and vote on the proposal at 10 a.m. March 1.

In his letter, Morrison said he would trade the “infinitesimal risk” associated with the proposed depot for the growing “environmental degradation” associated with the congestion in Seattle.

“I know that your Spokane regional folks are justified in being concerned with any perceived threat to their aquifer,” Morrison wrote in the letter received Monday.

“I write this letter not to criticize them but to inform you that there is a bigger, environmentally friendly picture that goes well-beyond the interests of a certain railroad in siting a fuel facility in a neighboring state.”

The letter opposing the depot included signatures from State Sen. Lisa Brown, Rep. Jeff Gombosky, and Rep. Alex Wood, all Democrats, along with Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley.

Wood said the same group of lawmakers expressed their concerns last fall.

He acknowledged that BNSF has done all it can to provide safety controls, except “the extra added safety factor of not having it over the aquifer.”

Wood said he and the other lawmakers are willing to seek federal grants, a public-private partnership and other ideas to provide the same economic benefit without endangering the water supply to about 400,000 people.

“It’s amazing how you can compromise when you really want to do it,” he said.

BNSF has planned advanced containment systems that company officials say would prevent most spills from reaching the aquifer.

A grass-roots group, called Friends of the Aquifer, has argued that no level of protection is guaranteed and that the water source is too important to risk.

The majority of citizens who have spoken out on the project are against BNSF’s plan. Kootenai County also hired two hearing examiners who both recommended to deny the proposal.

In the letter, the Washington lawmakers agree with the opposition that the risks outweigh potential economic gains to the area.

“We believe the state boundaries should not prevent leaders and policy makers in Idaho and Washington from working together in order to find a long-term, realistic solution that does not compromise the safety and health of either state’s citizens,” the letter read.

IDAHO HEADLINE: Washington officials’ views on depot mixed