Panel discussion scheduled today to discuss fuel spill

A panel discussion today will feature state and independent experts discussing the recent fuel spill over the region’s aquifer.

The meeting is free and open to the public. It begins at noon at the Iron Horse Restaurant in downtown Coeur d’Alene at 407 E. Sherman Ave. The panel will address the seriousness of the contamination and what actions will be taken to remedy the situation, according to a statement issued by the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, which is hosting the event.

Representing the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality will be Geoff Harvey, water and remediation manager; Marc Kalbaugh, site remediation manager; and Gary Stevens, hydrologist.

The Kootenai Environmental Alliance also will be represented on the panel by Dale Marcy, an analytical chemist, and Ken Lustig, the former head of the Panhandle Health District’s environmental division.

The contamination has occurred below a newly constructed Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Co. railroad refueling facility near Hauser, Idaho. An unknown amount of diesel fuel, motor oil and other chemicals leaked into the aquifer from a broken wastewater drain pipe at the facility. Tests are still being conducted to determine the extent of the spill.

Initial tests show the level of toxic chemicals to be below the levels that pose a threat to public health, according to state and federal drinking water guidelines. But Lustig, with the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, believes the contamination will likely expand and the levels could increase with time.

“This contamination of the aquifer is an ongoing and unfolding event,” Lustig said in a statement. “These initial samplings are snapshots, not the endgame. These contamination plumes expand, decompose and migrate at different rates and at different levels of toxicity.”