BNSF Railway completed excavation work last week along the Whitefish River after a petroleum sheen was discovered on the water earlier this month.
Soil samples taken as a result of the excavation work are currently being analyzed at a laboratory, according to Senior State Superfund Project Officer Jessica Smith, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) employee helping oversee the rail yard cleanup.
BNSF spokesperson Maia LaSalle said the railroad is doing everything it can to protect the popular waterway.
“BNSF crews are continuing work on the Whitefish River near the boat landing,” she said. “Soils with minor hydrocarbon impacts have been removed in the area and some final work on the shoreline remains to eliminate any potential for migration to the river.”
Between 2009 and 2013, BNSF removed 26,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment along about 1.5 miles of river as part of an extensive environmental cleanup. Smith said the key question now is whether the recent sheen in the river was the result of contaminated soil that was missed during that effort or if it has migrated from the ground below the rail yard.
The work along the river between 2009 and 2013 was only a part of BNSF and DEQ efforts in Whitefish. A large section of the century-old rail yard is designated a state superfund site, and DEQ is currently conducting a risk assessment of the contamination beneath the yard that will help guide a future cleanup. Smith said she hopes to have the risk assessment done by 2020.
Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld said the city has been in contact with DEQ and BNSF on the recent excavation work and has been assured that it will be investigated fully.
“I have full faith in BNSF that they will clean it up,” he said.