Refuel depot leak spotted

An unknown amount of wastewater, including diesel fuel and motor oil, has leaked from a broken pipe at a train refueling facility located over the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer near Hauser, Idaho.

The leak was detected Friday and the pipe was immediately shut down, but an official with the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. said the fracture could be more than three months old.

“We can’t estimate the volume” of the leak, said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. “There is no evidence that the aquifer has been affected at this time.”

Refueling operations are continuing at their normal pace, Melonas said.

The refueling depot opened Sept. 1. Environmental groups and many local residents spent years fighting to prevent the facility from being constructed over the aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 400,000 people in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene region.

“Apparently our worst fears have happened in the first 120 days of operation,” said Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, who is also a member of Friends of the Aquifer.

Soil and groundwater samples are being tested to determine if the nearby groundwater is safe to drink, said Marc Kalbaugh, site remediation manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. “That’s going to be determined as more information is gathered,” he said.

A better idea on the safety of the surrounding drinking water and extent of the leak will be available in “several days” when the preliminary investigation is completed, Kalbaugh said.

The 8-inch-wide PVC pipe was designed to carry wastewater and spilled fluids from the main locomotive fueling platform to the refueling depot’s on-site treatment facility. After an initial separation of the oil and water, the remaining waste was to be shipped by rail for further treatment in the Midwest, company officials said in an August interview. The broken pipe transported raw wastewater from the platform.

Up to three trains at a time can be refueled in the open air pumping station, with diesel loaded into their tanks at 190 gallons per minute, BNSF officials said during a grand opening tour on Aug. 31. Lubricating oil, coolant, water and traction sand also is pumped onto trains passing through the facility.

In the shipping world, time is everything. The expansive Hauser Mainline Fueling Facility offered considerable advantages. Traditional train pit stops at the railroad’s Seattle yard can take up to eight hours and require locomotives to disconnect from their line of freight cars. Hauser has enough track space to allow a relatively easy detour from the nearby mainline with no car disconnections needed.

Loaded trains heading for a Great Plains crossing or those scheduled to make a pickup at a busy coastal port are able to take on up to 10,000 gallons of diesel in 45 minutes.

The $42 million project was cited as the most advanced, environmentally friendly train refueling depot in the nation. The above-ground fuel storage tanks are double-walled and two layers of high-density plastic barriers were installed below the fueling platform.

Project manager Kenny Hancock, with the Kansas City-based engineering firm Hanson-Wilson Inc., attempted to alleviate concerns over spills during the grand opening tour.

“We anticipate there will be no leaking into the aquifer whatsoever,” he said during the tour, adding that no engineering project is totally foolproof. “A term I like to use is ‘infinitesimally small.’ Can I tell you it will never happen? No.”

Buell Hollister, a Hauser resident who fought against the refueling depot being built above the aquifer, said the soils below the facility are gravelly and will make a poor barrier for fuel or other spilled contaminants. The aquifer is about 150 feet below the surface in the area.

“It’s extremely porous,” Hollister said of the soils. “I don’t imagine it would take very long for (contaminants) to migrate down to the aquifer.”

Hollister said he was impressed by the care taken in constructing the facility, but “I certainly didn’t expect any problems this soon. I’m just hoping it isn’t severe. No matter how sophisticated and how much technology is involved in developing this facility, accidents happen. They will happen again.”

The leak was discovered Friday after the wastewater drain appeared to be plugged, said Kalbaugh, with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. When workers could not unplug the pipe, the area was excavated and the fractured pipe was found. The exposed soil smelled of “hydrocarbons,” Kalbaugh said.

BNSF notified state regulators Friday afternoon, shortly after the leak was detected, Kalbaugh said.

“BNSF is acting in a rapid manner,” Kalbaugh said. “They have met the protocols that were established.”

A sample from the excavated area was sent for testing Saturday, but Kalbaugh said he does not yet know the results. Drilling began Tuesday afternoon in surrounding locations to gather soil and water samples. Results from the samples are expected 24 hours after they arrive at the lab, Kalbaugh said.

Post Falls Mayor Larkin said he was told the underground pipe was broken outside of the area protected by the plastic barriers. BNSF officials could not be reached for confirmation and a Spokesman-Review reporter was turned away at the facility’s gate Tuesday afternoon.