Railroad Decision Delayed Bn Depot To Get More Hearings Kootenai County Hopes To Avoid Lawsuit; Both Sides Say They Look Forward To Testifying Again

Kootenai County officials will hold more public hearings on a controversial railroad fueling depot proposal.

A 2-1 vote by the Kootenai County commissioners on Wednesday delayed a long-awaited decision on the depot that the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway wants to build near Rathdrum, Idaho.

The 500,000-gallon diesel fueling depot is planned over the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer - the source of drinking water for about 400,000 Spokane and Kootenai county residents.

Commission chairman Dick Panabaker defended the additional hearings, a decision unpopular with residents who wanted the board to take a stand one way or the other.

Commissioners want to hear more from both sides despite hearing examiner Jean DeBarbieris’ recent report recommending the depot be rejected, Panabaker said.

DeBarbieris faulted the proposed depot on potential safety problems linked to human error and threats to water quality.

Panabaker expects the county to be sued regardless of its decision on the depot, either by a disappointed railroad or residents vehemently opposed to locating the depot above the aquifer. Public hearings will make sure the county makes a decision based on all available information, he said.

Even something as trivial as a visit DeBarbieris made to the depot site without notifying planning officials could provide grounds for a court case, Panabaker said.

“It’s not in our best interest to get the county sued,” Panabaker said after the meeting. “We’re going to put this thing together like it’s done right, and we won’t get sued on some stupid procedural mistake.”

Commissioner Ron Rankin voted against the hearings. Rankin unsuccessfully proposed a different track: deny the railroad’s permit.

When the other commissioners failed to second his motion, Rankin’s proposal died without a vote.

Rankin said the voluminous paperwork submitted to the hearing examiner gave him all the information he needed. He pointed to a University of Montana economics department study done for free that attacked the BNSF’s $10,000 economic study performed by Eastern Washington University.

“We’ve heard all this testimony before,” Rankin said. “It’s going to end up in court anyway. It just draws it out.”

The railroad requested additional hearings Monday.

Commissioner Dick Compton, in calling for the additional hearings, said he’d never rejected a hearing request in his 5-1/2 years on the board.

Compton has long been considered a key depot supporter, according to internal documents from the railroad’s public relations firm, The Gallatin Group.

An internal Jan. 19, 1999, memo obtained by The Spokesman-Review called Compton “the best potential supporter of the BNSF facility, with Dick Panabaker the swing vote.” The memo contains the minutes of a BNSF meeting to discuss the depot.

The railroad in 1998 tabled a 2-million-gallon diesel storage facility, citing public opposition and a negative verdict from a hearing examiner. BNSF revealed plans for a smaller facility last spring.

Railroad officials attending Wednesday’s meeting said they looked forward to the chance to testify again.

The company wanted more hearings to “get something on the record,” said Kelly Duryea, BNSF’s Spokane Division Superintendent. “I know it’s a tough decision for the commission.”

Duryea said the railroad didn’t have new information to provide.

The railroad’s attorney, Janet Robnett, said this week that the railroad wants a chance to publicly refute DeBarbieris’ report.

Depot opponents said additional chances to testify will give them the opportunity to unveil new information in the campaign to keep the depot off the aquifer.

But they also expressed disappointment at the commission’s delayed action.

“I think it’s a real shame that the taxpayers of Kootenai County have to foot the bill when Jean (DeBarbieris) has done such a fine job,” said Richard Shutts of Friends of the Aquifer, a grass-roots opposition group based in Rathdrum.

FUEL DEPOT Hearings A hearing on Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway’s proposed fueling depot is scheduled for Feb. 14 at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene, with possible additional hearings Feb. 15 and 16.