Page 10 - Flathead Beacon // 3.12.14

10 | MARCH 12, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

State, Railroad Wrap Up

Just
Sayin’.

Evergreen Superfund Cleanup

“I tried to lick and
like, bite, my way
out because I was Old industrial site could
host new businesses in
too close together
to get my hands the future
out.”
KALISPELL POLE
& TIMBER
Phoenix Scoles-Coburn, By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
8, on the Today Show after
he was rescued from an
avalanche that took out a The Montana Department of Envi-
house in Missoula.
ronmental Quality and BNSF Railway W
have nearly completed the cleanup of an
H
I
T
old industrial site in Evergreen. In the
E
F
“This is a crazy coming weeks, the inal carloads of petro- RELIANCE REFINERY

I
S
H
leum-contaminated soils will be loaded
S
way to approach into railcars destined for a treatment fa-
T
A
the 21st century.”
cility in North Dakota.

.
G
R
ED
YALE OIL

R
D
O
Former President Bill The cleanup at the state superfund
A
A
E
H
Clinton on Russia’s site has been ongoing for the last few D
T
A
military involvement in years, but the biggest push came in 2012 L
F
the Ukrainian crisis.
and 2013, according to Moriah Bucy, state
superfund section manager for DEQ. Bucy
said now that the land is almost cleaned it
“To conirm what could be used for an industrial park and
happened that day .
R
perhaps added to the nearby rail park be- D
K
R
A
on this ill-fated ing built.
N
P
D
N
A
L
aircraft, we need “The soil has been cleaned and it’s a D
O
T
E
O
E
R
W
T
hard evidence. positive thing,” Bucy said. “This has been S
O
H
A
D
I
.
E
a huge project and it’s made the land us-
We need concrete able again. There was petroleum oozing
evidence. We out of the ground.”
STEVE LARSON | FLATHEAD BEACON
need parts of the The superfund site is located just ny that was there.
site is completed, Bucy said that some ad-

aircraft for us to northwest of U.S. Highway 2 in Ever- Over the last two years, DEQ and
ditional treatments would go on for years,
analyze, for us to green, along the railroad tracks that are BNSF have overseen the injection of speciically on the Kalispell Pole and Tim-
do forensic studies. owned by BNSF but now used by the Mis- chemicals in the groundwater to break ber site. In order to restore that soil, con-
sion Mountain Railroad. The site was down contaminants. Petroleum-contam- tractors will need to till it every year for
We are every hour, used from the 1920s until 1990. The lon- inated soils, with literally black sludge at least a decade. There is also a small sec-
every minute, every gest tenant was Kalispell Pole and Timber, oozing out, was excavated and is being tion of soil that still needs treatment be-
second, looking at which had a wood treatment operation on hauled of site.
cause it’s next to a gas line, which compli-
the site from 1945 until 1990. Reliance “We are very pleased to report that cated the cleanup. Overall, DEQ oicials
every inch of the
sea.”
Reining Company processed crude oil site cleanup is progressing according to called the cleanup a major success.
from eastern Montana and North Dakota schedule. This complicated project re- “We are very proud of the progress
Azharuddin Abdul from 1924 to the 1960s and Yale Oil Cor- quired a team efort from both inter- that’s been made to clean up this site,”
Rahman, director general poration, which was owned by Exxon, was nal and external stakeholders including said DEQ Director Tracy-Stone Manning.
of Malaysia’s Department open from 1938 to 1978. While those com- the local community,” said John Loven- “This project resulted in a cleaner, safer
of Civil Aviation talking panies were responsible for much of the burg, BNSF vice president environmen- environment for the community of Ka-
about the missing contamination of the site, BNSF owned tal. “BNSF greatly appreciates the coop- lispell.”
Malaysia Airlines Flight
370.
a majority of the property involved, leav- eration of the Evergreen community as For more information about the
ing it responsible for the cleanup. The 75- we work to inish restoration of the KRY cleanup, visit www.deq.mt.gov/StateSu-
acre area is known as the KRY Site, which property.”
perfund/kpt.mcpx.
comes from the irst letter of each compa-
While a majority of the work at the
[email protected]

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