Small spill could spell big problems for real estate values and area residents

Our aquifer may have dodged a bullet when Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. shut down a leaky wastewater pipe at its North Idaho diesel refueling station before it could leach more dangerous chemicals into the water. But allowing the depot to keep operating without an adequate system for handling spills is like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun.

Wonder which end of the barrel we’re on? Consider what happened to homeowners in North Havre, Mont., when soil and wells in the unincorporated community were contaminated by 1.2 million gallons of diesel spilled over the years at a nearby rail yard now owned by BNSF. After residents sued over related health problems and plummeting property values, the railroad started buying some of the most contaminated land. After initially purchasing 15 lots last year, the company entered into right-of- first-refusal buying agreements with 60 other homeowners. But local Realtors say the railroad is snapping up any contaminated properties owners will sell.

It’s a good thing, too, said Becky Wimmer. The co-owner of Havre real-estate firm Property West has represented several affected residents. “They can’t sell to anyone but the railroad because no one else can get a mortgage” for the contaminated properties, Wimmer said. “These people can’t grow certain kinds of vegetables anymore,” and they have to drink bottled water. “The railroad will buy from anyone willing to sell because they don’t want the liability of a new owner.”

The problems run as deep as a tainted well. For one thing, the railroad’s only offering buyouts equal to appraisals done on affected properties before the lawsuit was settled last year. Other property around Havre has increased in value by about 20 percent since those appraisals were completed, Wimmer estimated. But home prices for people in the contaminated zone are frozen in time. The longer they wait to sell, the more profit they lose.

Adding insult to injury, the attorney for the homeowners hired an appraiser from out of the area who didn’t have full access to Havre’s competitive real-estate market data, Wimmer said. As a result, she believes the initial appraisals were low.

Another local Realtor, Kim Cripps, a partner at Havre Montana Realty, said BNSF has “allowed the people a chance to relocate. The people who have moved that I’ve dealt with have been happy for the most part.” But she stressed she had dealt with only a few affected homeowners and referred me to Wimmer.

So what has Wimmer heard from those residents? “They are not happy” with the prices they’re getting for their ruined land, she said. Some have decided to stay – bottled water, skunked soil and all. “A lot of them have been there all their lives, and they don’t want to move,” Wimmer added. “A lot of them are in their 70s.”

Those who do sell are given the option of moving their houses to new properties. But the railroad razes any homes left behind. What once was a community is turning, inexorably, into a fouled vacant lot.

Wimmer has heard the land might someday be turned into a baseball field or industrial park. She thinks it would be a good spot for a golf course. “It’s not going to be conducive to anything else because of the contaminated ground,” she noted.

Those should be sobering words to Spokane-area residents concerned about what a diesel- damaged aquifer would do to their property values. As the Olympia beer ads used to say, “It’s the water – and a lot more.”